How to Strike a Match
by Almost Words
Summary: A year ago, a group of experienced Huntresses known as Team RWBY led the charge in the Second Battle of Beacon, reuniting the Kingdoms and restoring peace. But the world of Remnant is unforgiving, and all this means is that the stakes in their next fight will be even higher. (Set 4-5 years after the end of Volume 3; likely to become AU within the first ten seconds of Volume 4.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was a long time ago, when the moon was still whole in the sky, before the days of the Four Maidens or the Three Foolish Kings. The Grimm were growing bolder and bolder; on all the five continents, only one village, called Remnant, still managed to stand against them. And so it came to pass that Aspen, the first Huntsman, went to Titania, queen of all the Grimm, to beg for mercy.

Now, crafty Aspen did not come to Titania empty-handed. Out of the finest ivory and darkest wood he could find in his village, Aspen had crafted a chess set, which he set down before the queen. "It is said, Queen Titania, that you are more subtle than any other creature of Grimm," Aspen said. "And so I challenge you to a game of my devising. Should I lose, my soul will be yours for the taking. Should I win, I ask that your subjects spare my village for a year and a day, that my people can have time to set their affairs in order."

Aspen had planned this gamble well. He knew that the queen would be seduced by the black pieces, carved in the form of fierce Beowolves and looming Goliaths, and that perhaps the first move would give Aspen the tiny advantage he needed to win. More importantly, Aspen had practiced the game against each of his fellow villagers, until he could win against any of them; the queen of the Grimm would be playing for the first time. And yet, because Queen Titania was more subtle than any other creature of Grimm, the game went on. More and more pieces were traded, and finally the game ended in a draw.

"No more games," Queen Titania said. "I would have your soul before you return to your village. What price do you ask for it? I can be generous, but my generosity is not limitless."

The queen's offer filled Aspen with dread. He didn't know what losing his soul would mean, and he was afraid that his village would come to no good if it had a soulless leader. But at the same time, Aspen knew that if he left without a way to protect his people, then Remnant would fall anyway. And so he resolved to trade with the queen.

"Without the fire of my soul, I wouldn't be able to protect my village," Aspen replied. "If we are to come to an agreement, then what you offer in exchange must burn just as bright."

The queen smiled a ghastly smile and produced a pouch of vibrant Dust powder, which she scattered over the chessboard. "Nothing could be simpler. How much Dust is your soul worth?"

"I do not ask for much," Aspen said. He carefully picked up a single grain of Dust and placed it in a corner square of the chessboard. "Just one grain, for the first square of the chessboard. Two grains, for the second. Four grains, for the third. Place on each square twice the Dust on the previous square, and I will trade my soul for all the Dust on the chessboard."

Queen Titania accepted this offer, and a bargain was struck. She said not a word more, not even when the Dust began to spill from the chessboard. In the end, the two of them stood on a hill of Dust, with lights of every color chasing back the darkness as far as the eye could see. Still, the queen of the Grimm remained silent.

Perhaps the queen considered Aspen's soul to be worth this tremendous price, or simply knew something that Aspen did not. It's also possible that crafty Aspen had finally managed to get the better of the queen. In any case, with the Dust that Aspen brought back that day, the people of Remnant finally had the power to push back against the darkness. For many years, that power brought only struggles; yet in the end, those struggles brought a time of peace, built on a supply of Dust that would never run out.


	2. How to Start a Fight

**How to Start a Fight**

Like everything else within a half-mile radius of an Atlesian military base, the bar looked high-tech and sparkling clean. Walls, counters, shelves, floor—every surface that wasn't glass or polished metal went with plastic as a distinctly inferior third choice. The patrons were mostly off-duty soldiers, still in their uniforms; after a year in Atlas, Blake still wasn't sure if this was due to regulation or personal preference.

Blake wasn't too excited about being in a bar to begin with. Feeling no particular need to hide this, she was sitting in a corner reading a book. The soldiers were respectfully keeping their distance, the reason for which was twofold. First, of course, seeing any Huntress was a bit like seeing a rock star for the average grunt. Second, even relative to that baseline, Blake's team was well-known after what had happened in Vale. One would really have to make an effort to screw up an impression like that.

There was a loud crash. Blake looked up to see that Yang had just thrown someone through a window.

Out of respect for her partner, Blake put her book down; after all, Yang might be upset if she got into a bar fight and Blake wasn't even paying attention. At that precise moment, Yang didn't seem too upset; the tips of her hair were smoldering, but that was it. The defenestrated soldier's buddies were a different story. Blake estimated that they had made it roughly halfway from sputtering to shouting incoherently.

There were three of them, and Yang was fair-minded enough to let them all rush her at the same time. After all, that just made it easier for her to grab the one on the left with one hand, pick him up, and throw him at the other two. The audience was impressed; the soldiers landed in a heap on the floor. There was no further property damage, and Blake would have bet Gambol Shroud's sheath that Yang was a little disappointed by this.

Which is why it was an astoundingly poor time for the first soldier to walk back into the bar. The man threw the door open loudly as he walked in, and everybody turned around to look at him. Tall and solidly built, he was holding some sort of two-handed club. _Looks like he's serious about this_ , Blake would have been thinking, if she hadn't been busy thinking, _It's adorable how you think you have a chance against Yang._

With some unerringly stupid instinct, the man then proceeded to say the one sentence that would make Yang's hair burst into flame on the spot. He insulted her mother.

As Yang pulled back her right first, Blake looked away. She knew what was about to happen and despite herself found it deeply embarrassing.

"Rocket punch!"

Blake figured she had to be the only Huntress on all of Remnant whose partner actually called out her attacks.

In all likelihood, onlookers had assumed that the double-size gauntlet on Yang's right hand was a stylistic choice. They were caught by surprise as the robotic fist went flying forward in a yellow streak trailed by fire, hitting the man at the door square in the jaw. A satisfying amount of destruction followed him out through one of the walls. Yang raised her right arm in a gesture reminiscent of a fist pump, which turned into the real thing as her weapon returned.

"Alright, anybody else here think they're tougher than Yang friggin' Xiao Long?" she called out to the room. There was a brief silence.

The silence was broken by the soft sigh of the officer who chose that moment to enter the room, stepping over the unconscious body at his feet.

"Huntress Xiao Long," the newcomer did address Yang directly, but his voice betrayed a faint hope that he was mistaken, "and Huntress Belladonna," he turned to Blake, who stood up rather than remain inconspicuous in the corner, "You are ordered to report to General Ironwood, along with the rest of your team, for a mission briefing."

* * *

Ruby and Weiss sat in Ironwood's office in silence, waiting for the other half of their team to show up. Ruby still felt uncomfortable in their military surroundings, preferring the informality she'd been used to for most of her career. If her partner felt the same way, she didn't show it, but then, Weiss was literally at home in Atlas. Ruby briefly wondered if, under other circumstances, their team would have graduated Beacon and then split up, as so many other teams did.

As for the general himself, the man appeared to be distracted, fingers tapping out a complicated rhythm on his table. The paper file left prominently open on his desk seemed to make him uneasy, though that might equally well have been due to the Atlesian military head's preference to keep everything important in digital form. Actually, now that the thought crossed Ruby's mind, that did seem like a strange incongruity. She wondered if that had anything to do with the infuriatingly vague way in which she and Weiss had been informed of this meeting not too long ago.

Ruby's musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. General Ironwood grunted and tapped out a short command sequence on his scroll. The door slid open, allowing Blake and Yang entry into the office.

"Look, if this is about your soldiers' bad attitude, I can—" Yang broke off as the general gestured to interrupt her.

"While I'm sure half my men will breathe a sigh of relief if they find out that Yang Xiao Long is being assigned a mission on another continent, that is not the primary reason I have chosen Team RWBY for this task." The general paused for a moment, giving them a chance to come to terms with this new information. True, communication between the kingdoms had resumed some time ago now, after a three-year blackout that had ended in no small part due to their team's efforts. Still, aside from a few semi-permanent postings, missions to other continents were rare.

"I have lately been making an effort to go through and assess the notes that Headmaster Ozpin left behind," Ironwood continued. "It's not a task I'm well-suited to, and I would rather have left the whole job to a secretary, but much of the information is far too sensitive. Case in point," here he gestured at the file lying open in front of him. "I believe that this document points us to the location of a large stockpile of military-grade Dust that has been untouched for at least a century, perhaps longer."

"That's ridiculous," Weiss interrupted bluntly. "I mean—General, the overheads involved in Dust mining are getting higher and higher. Even without taking into account looters, smugglers, and other criminals, legitimate mining companies regularly pay out bounties and send out prospectors to locate such stockpiles. Any supply of reasonable size wouldn't have lasted a decade, let alone a century."

"Not if it were on Lotan," the general said simply.

The mention alone surprised Ruby. Lotan, the smaller continent to the north of Vytal, had never been successfully settled, to her knowledge. Efforts to establish a foothold had always floundered due to the unexpected ferocity and number of the Grimm that inhabited it.

"Ozpin's notes indicate that at one time, a settlement had been established at Lotan. It was… not one of the successful ones. I haven't been able to determine if the settlement was abandoned, or overrun without any survivors remaining. The stockpile, however, is known to remain intact."

The general turned to Weiss. "Of course, concerns about the stockpile's future are not unfounded. Eventually, someone else will stumble upon the Dust. Given that, it is best that we secure the stockpile sooner rather than later."

"So you're sending us to Lotan to retrieve the Dust?" asked Yang.

General Ironwood smiled. "You leave tomorrow morning." He nodded, indicating that they were dismissed.

* * *

After all this time, Weiss considered herself to be fairly familiar with their leader's ways. Even so, it came as a surprise that, instead of heading back to their shared apartment, Ruby turned in a completely different direction—and urged the rest of the team to follow.

Guided out of the military district into a less reputable part of town, they at last ended up in a noodle house owned by an elderly husband-and-wife duo. After Ruby ordered herself a small portion, Weiss followed suit along with everyone else. She noticed, however, that Ruby was in no hurry to begin eating.

"Blake?" Ruby asked.

"The wife's got a knife-pistol combo hidden away in that belt, but doesn't look like she plans on using it," the Faunus reported. "Other clients look clean; definitely not military."

"Alright, then." Ruby gave the interior of the noodle house a quick once-over of her own, then turned to face the team. "What's the general got planned? Theories?"

Suddenly everything that was going on made sense to Weiss. In the years that Beacon Academy lay sacked by the Grimm, with Vale's future uncertain, they'd had more than a few such meetings. But weren't they safe now, back in the company of those they could trust?

Such questions could wait, however. For now, Weiss simply reflected on the meeting they'd just left, reviewing everything that was said. Come to think of it, there was one oddity…

"Ironwood—when I brought up the Dust situation in the Kingdoms, he seemed evasive. And I'm still not sure I buy his justification for retrieving the stockpile now. There's no way that anyone would search a continent no one is known to have settled on the off chance of finding some Dust."

"So why else would he want a supply of Dust?" asked Yang. "Planning to blow up something really big? Or worried about supplies running out? Weiss, what can you say about how mining is going these days, anyway?"

"By definition, nothing certain," Weiss replied. Seeing the confusion on her teammates' faces, she elaborated: "Schnee Dust, like all major Dust mining companies, has an extremely thorough stockpiling policy. In Atlas and Mistral, it's mandated by the government; it's a good idea in general. Buffers ensure that variation in mining doesn't change the amount of Dust exported. Even the miners themselves don't know how much Dust they're shipping out."

"But why does—oh." Ruby stopped short. "It all comes back to public opinion, doesn't it?"

"Exactly," said Weiss. "Transportation, communication, and defense all hinge on availability of Dust, so if prices were to go up, people would start to get worried. The more they worry, the more the Grimm start acting up. The more that happens, the more Dust we need to protect ourselves."

"It's all about the Grimm, then," Yang said. "If Dust runs low, they're the real problem. We could make do without robots or online scroll games if we needed to, but we need to protect ourselves."

"If that's what we're facing, and why Ironwood's worried, then what can Remnant do to stop it?" asked Blake.

"Kill all the Grimm first?" Ruby replied. Seeing three identical incredulous stares, she blushed. "Just a thought. Brainstorming, right?"

"Is there anywhere we can retreat?" asked Weiss, determined to meet the low standard of being more practical than Ruby. "Blake, do you know if Menagerie had lots of Grimm?"

"Weiss, you sat through the exact same lectures I did," Blake responded huffily. "I'm not sure why you expect me to be the Faunus history expert here. Is it the ears?"

"Blake, you're our everything history expert if we've got one at all," said Yang. Blake appeared mollified.

"Anyway, Menagerie had, if anything, more of a Grimm problem than anywhere else. It's hard to say, though, if that was due to population, or due to the Grimm sensing the people's general mood; it's not as though it was a great place to live."

The group fell silent for a few seconds, poking uncertainly at their food. Weiss seized the chance to ask the question that she'd had from the beginning.

"Ruby, why did you want to talk about all this now? Are you suspicious of General Ironwood? Do you not trust Atlas?"

"Heh. I mean." Ruby shifted in her seat. "We're probably good on that count. I mean, part of why we ended up going to Atlas is that we're pretty sure we're the good guys, right?"

"But I made a promise to myself." Suddenly Ruby's silver eyes reminded Weiss more of steel. "I won't let my team be sent out blindly to fight for a cause we know nothing about. Not again."

Ruby smiled, and the tension in the air disappeared. "That being said, let's fly out there and kick some Grimm butt!" Ruby's smile turned into a mischievous grin. "Banzai!"

Weiss blinked, Ruby's shifts in mood giving her whiplash. She thought back to the day they first became a team, so long ago. Sometimes it seemed like her friends hadn't changed at all.

Smiling, she replied together with the others. "Banzai!"


	3. How to Say Goodbye

**How to Say Goodbye**

That night, there was one last thing Weiss had to do before the mission.

"Hello, Winter. I know that I haven't come out to see you very much lately. I apologize for that. But I'm leaving Atlas in the morning, and I wanted to talk with you for a bit first."

Weiss paused. "That is, I'm leaving for a mission. I'm almost certainly coming back. But you know how these things go."

Weiss knelt by the gravestone. For a moment, she couldn't think of anything else to say. The silence, though, was even more unbearable. Weiss took a breath.

"I promise I've been eating properly. I've given a few guest classes at a civilian fencing league here in Atlas. Two weeks ago, General Ironwood gave a personal commendation to Team RWBY for having the most successful mission track record over the past year." Weiss looked aside. "Then he told Yang off for getting into fights with his soldiers all the time. Also, my summoning has gotten a lot better since the last time you saw me fight! Though it still takes more out of me than any other use of the glyphs. I promise that I will—"

"Be silent." A quiet, yet forceful voice interrupted Weiss. The speaker was standing behind her. "You're making a fool of yourself."

Weiss didn't turn around. "Go away, Father. I didn't come here to speak with you."

"No. I suppose you wouldn't have. Isn't it funny how it's so much easier to speak to the dead than to the living?"

Weiss felt an embarrassed flush on her face and ignored it. Of course her father would make her out to be an ungrateful child throwing a temper tantrum. But the truth of the matter was that she simply had nothing to say to the man. She had her own life now! Winter had understood that. Winter had never tried to make Weiss and her father get along.

"In truth, there is only one thing that I came here to say, Weiss. James has told me about the mission he's sending your team on. I won't tell you not to go; no Schnee would ever give up without a fight. But please, be careful out there. Don't get yourself killed."

That was almost palatable, for a message from her father. Weiss relaxed slightly.

"Your teammates… after five years with them, I'm sure you care about each of them deeply. This is only natural. But you have to understand that your life is far more precious to me than any of theirs. It is more precious to me than all of their lives, combined. I know that you will be taking risks. But I don't want you to sacrifice yourself, even to save someone else."

Of course, then her father would go on to say something like that. Weiss clenched her fists.

"Right now, you can't imagine what life could be like without your friends. They have literally fought a war at your side. I understand that losing them feels like the end of the world. I understand that you would do anything to avoid it. I know how it is, Weiss! I've been through the same thing. But it's a given that sooner or later, all Huntsmen die. One way or another, you will lose your friends eventually. You will go on to find new ones. Either that, or your friends will go on without you. To live, you must have the will to live no matter what it takes. I want you to live, Weiss."

Weiss spun around angrily. "Go away! You don't understand it at all! You've never cared about anyone else in your life!"

Her father remained calm. "You will remember what I said." His tone of voice was blank, every syllable measured and every hint of feeling discarded as useless.

Weiss watched her father walk away. Only when he was out of sight did she allow herself to relax. She looked back at her sister's gravestone, apologetically.

"I wonder what you would have to say, if you were here. Would you agree with him? Would you want me to choose my life over Ruby's, or Yang's, or Blake's?"

Then Weiss, too, turned around to walk away.

"Until next time, sister."

* * *

Yang's plan for that night was to kick up her feet and relax on the couch of their apartment. After all, it's hard work being awesome all the time.

Unfortunately, after approximately five minutes, her well-deserved rest was interrupted by the sound of surprisingly loud coughing from Ruby's room. Yang played a few nonverbal rounds of "No, you go" with Blake, who was sitting in the same room with Yang, a cup of tea in her hands. Of course, Blake being Blake, it's possible that the entire interaction was in Yang's imagination: the inscrutable expression on her partner's face did not change at all. In the end, Yang gave up and went to check on Ruby.

Opening the door, Yang saw Ruby sitting cross-legged on her bed, red-faced and covering her mouth with one hand. In the other, she was holding… a flask of whiskey?

"What do you think you're doing there, young lady?" asked Yang, hands on her hips: the very image of righteous indignation. Ruby looked up at her in alarm. For a moment, she pulled back her hand as if to hide the whiskey behind her back. Then she stopped and looked down at the flask in her hand. Then back at Yang. Then she glared.

Yang grinned. _Yep, still got it,_ she thought to herself. "Seriously, though, sis. Where'd you get the booze from?"

Ruby looked down and mumbled something.

"You'll have to speak up," smirked Yang. "If you're trying to save yourself some embarrassment, I'm afraid that's a lost cause."

"I said, Uncle Qrow gave it to me." Ruby took the flask in both hands and stared at it. "He sent it as my birthday present this year. I figured, if he were actually here instead of loafing about in Mistral or wherever he is, he'd take me drinking before the mission like he always said he would. So I decided to try it. How can he stand this stuff?"

Yang came over and took the flask away from Ruby. "Alright. Got it. Follow me." Then, in case she wasn't being clear enough, she grabbed Ruby's hand and pulled her towards the door.

"Dearest sister. If you're suffering from some misguided protective instinct, let me remind you that I am not only above the legal drinking age in all four kingdoms, but have also been your team leader for the past five years." Ruby was allowing herself to be dragged along, but was not being cooperative.

Yang spun around. "What? You think I'm going to stop you? No, I think my sisterly responsibilities are quite clear here, and they say I'm taking you out to teach you how to drink properly. Also, Vacuo doesn't have a legal drinking age." She continued on, leading Ruby through the living room. "Blake, we're going out! You coming along?"

"Pass." Blake looked up at Yang and Ruby. "Actually, I've got something else I need to get done today."

"Your loss. Have fun with the books." Yang shrugged. "Now, Ruby; we'll save that flask for after the mission, because tonight we'll begin your education elsewhere. You'll hear mutters from Qrow about 'those fruity girly drinks with umbrellas in them'; he thinks they're undignified or unmanly or something, I guess. But they'll let you get drunk properly without having to deal with the burn of whiskey."

Ruby seemed to be coming along willingly now, so Yang let go of her arm. Then she stopped, realizing that she was forgetting the most important detail.

"Finally, before we go anywhere and get a single drop of alcohol in you, let's make one thing clear. Until I say otherwise, don't even think about using Crescent Rose while drunk. Also, put Crescent Rose down." Yang did a double take. "When did you even have time to grab it? Why did you grab it? What were you even planning on doing with it?"

* * *

That night, there was one last thing Blake had to do before the mission.

Most people, in Blake's opinion, had entirely the wrong idea about being sneaky. Sure, you could put on dark clothing and a ski mask, jump from shadow to shadow, sneak up on guards from behind, and so on. All great ways to get caught. In truth, there were as many right ways to sneak into a place as there were places to sneak into. The only places that called for a ski mask, however, were ski resorts.

In Blake's current situation, it helped a lot that she really did belong in the Atlesian Military Headquarters, and everybody knew it. Sure, she couldn't actually come up with a good reason to be there that evening, but that didn't matter. If she acted casual and pretended that nothing was wrong, then a dozen eyewitnesses could see her and recognize her and it wouldn't be a problem. If they were questioned about anything odd they saw, they'd have nothing to say. If they were questioned about Blake specifically, she'd probably be in trouble anyway, but even then they wouldn't be certain she was there on that particular night.

Cameras were a different problem. The Atlas military did love their automatic security. Blake didn't much care for being recorded on one, so she would have to dodge them all, without doing anything that seemed unusual.

The camera in the elevator was easy. Blake struck up a conversation with an overworked clerk, and helped him maneuver a cart piled with crates of paperwork inside the elevator. If she happened to position it to block the camera from seeing her, well, surely that was just a coincidence?

The cameras in the hallways appeared to be more of a challenge, at first. Blake was slightly tempted to engage in an impressive acrobatic traversal of the ceiling, but of course this would have defeated the entire point. In the end, the flaw in the security turned out, as always, to be human error. In one place, someone had mounted a wall clock right next to a camera, blocking its view of half the hallway. In another, Blake managed to realistically trip over a stepladder left out by a light fixture, jostling the camera until it pointed out of a window. Her route became that much more roundabout, but this would only work to her advantage.

The final camera, pointed right at the label "Gen. James Ironwood" on the office door, was not so easily overcome. Here, Blake was forced to take the risk of tinkering with the device itself. In the event of an investigation, however, nobody would be suspicious that the camera's battery needed replacing early. To make it realistic, Blake had picked out a battery whose Dust crystal was chipped: a plausible manufacturing defect. With that taken care of, Blake issued a command to her scroll that opened the automatic door for her. Tsk, General; relying on technology so much can really come back to bite you.

If Blake were being honest with herself, she'd have to admit that she probably hadn't needed to go to all this trouble. Team RWBY was one of the best; Ironwood almost certainly wouldn't mind indulging their curiosity. Blake smirked a little to herself as she snapped photos of each page of the paper file still left on the General's desk.

Yes, and almost certainly nothing was going to go wrong on the mission in the first place. But Blake believed in preparing for the worst. If Ironwood were playing a double game, then this was a move he wouldn't see her make.

Now that her task was done and nothing could go wrong, Blake allowed herself to indulge in a dramatic escape. She opened a window and crept out onto the narrow ledge, closing her exit behind her. Then she leaped out into the darkness, vanishing like a shadow in the night.


	4. How to Take a Fall

**How to Take a Fall**

The flight to Lotan was uncomfortably long. Ruby took Crescent Rose apart and put her back together, and they still hadn't arrived yet. Although the activity usually calmed her, this time it hadn't been able to take her mind off of the same concerns that had kept her up all night.

 _I won't let my team be sent out blindly_ , she had said. _Not again_. Bold words. They should get her to give graduation speeches. But in the end, what had she accomplished? The team had made some wild guesses on a subject Weiss had told them wasn't worth guessing about. They'd discussed strategies that none of them had the means to implement. And even if the kingdoms were running out of Dust, what did that mean? Did they have enough for one more week? Fifty more years? Would Mistral run out before Atlas, forcing them to rely on imported Dust to light their streets and defend their cities? Had that already happened without anyone noticing?

Ruby sighed. She was way too good at asking questions and not nearly good enough at figuring out answers. What's more, the questions might be premature. Maybe _Yang_ had had the right idea, and Ironwood just needed lots of Dust on short notice to blow something up. Though it would have to be an awfully big target for him to go to the trouble of sending a team to retrieve the Dust from another continent, snatching it from the jaws of millions of Grimm.

Ruby looked out through the window. They were flying above Lotan already; when viewed from above, the treacherous continent looked deceptively peaceful. Evergreen forests covered the slopes of snow-peaked mountains. Rivers snaked through the valleys, at times vividly blue, at times glinting with reflected sunlight. Ruby found that in her current mood, the scenery wasn't enough to distract her. Strange thoughts kept running through her mind. She wondered how much Dust it would take for someone to blow up the mountain they were flying over. What would it look like? Would the trees burn or be tossed into the sky like so many sticks?

"Weiss." Ruby turned to her partner, who was toying idly with Myrtenaster, using the blade's polished surface to send spots of sunlight dancing around the walls of the cabin. "How much Dust would it take to blow up that mountain?"

Weiss raised one eyebrow at Ruby. "I don't think I want to know what's going on in that head of yours," she replied. "But to answer the question: it depends on the type of Dust. With the powdered stuff that you use for your rifle, you'd practically have to stuff the mountain with it."

"If it's that bad, why do we use it at all?"

"It's more complicated than that. Powdered Dust is also much easier to set off. I've heard rumors," Weiss smirked, "that some dunces manage to do it just by sneezing. Crystals, on the other hand, are relatively stable. Though they hold more potential energy, hitting one with a shot or channeling your Aura through one releases only a fraction of that energy. It's mostly not worth the effort, unless you trigger the explosion in just the right way."

"But if you could do it…" Ruby trailed off.

"Give me the Dust crystals, a month of mining, and a day of setup," Weiss said, "and I could send that mountain flying."

"Alright, ladies," they heard over the intercom. "This is the final stop. The big airship's a few hours behind us, but I'm heading home." The pilot paused. "Escape hatch's in the back at the end of the cabin. There's no way I'm coming down there, so you're on your own with the landing. Good luck."

* * *

Falling through the sky at terminal velocity reinforced Yang's long-cherished opinion that the primary reason why the military sent Huntsmen and Huntresses on missions was to save money on parachutes. Seriously, there had to be a reason why the subject most heavily emphasized even way back at Signal was landing strategy.

Fortunately, when it came to landings, Yang had a distinct advantage, boasting an above-average count of rocket-propelled body parts. Bracing herself carefully to avoid spin, she launched Ember Celica 2.0 (which she privately referred to as the Boomeryang) at the ground below.

When Yang had first tried out this move, a few years earlier, things had gone mostly as planned, but she had learned one surprising fact. Mushroom clouds weren't limited to explosions from military-grade Dust bombs. Launch a piece of reinforced metal at the ground very very quickly, and it will make an equal impact on the terrain below. As a bonus, the shockwave did more to slow Yang's fall than the recoil from launching her fist at the ground.

Yang's second trick was to avoid doing anything else to slow down. With her Semblance, she could take the hit, get back up, and use the absorbed energy to make approaching Grimm regret their decision. Out of everyone on Team RWBY, Yang was best suited to be the first to land and begin securing a safe perimeter.

Dropping down into the crater she had made, Yang retrieved the Boomeryang with a single gesture, then immediately launched it again at an Ursa that had wandered over, disturbed by the noise. Not waiting for her fist to return, she dove into the fray: a pack of Beowolves waited for her at the other side of the crater. No matter; she could take those wimps single-handed.

A few seconds later, not a single Beowolf remained; Yang paused to catch her breath and looked around. It was clear that there had once been a city where she stood: the stones beneath her feet had once been pavement, and the rubble ahead could only have come from a series of closely-packed buildings. It was easy to miss these signs, however, because the crater Yang had made was one of the only clearings in an otherwise dense forest.

Here and there, Grimm of a type Yang didn't even recognize were venturing out from the cover provided by the trees. The creatures were reptilian, almost lizard-like; stubby wings protruded from their backs, but they didn't appear to be capable of flight. Their jaws held lots of tiny, razor-sharp teeth, but the monsters' primary weapons appeared to be the long red claws at the end of their feet. Though the lizard Grimm certainly looked comfortable crawling on all four paws, those that spotted Yang lifted themselves up onto their hind legs, waving their front claws menacingly.

Yang heard the report of several rifle shots, and three of the creatures collapsed to the ground in quick succession; those that remained turned to flee into the forest. Yang smiled. Over the years, her sister had become reluctant to waste a shot just to propel herself through the air. Even when engaged in melee, each round she fired to accelerate her scythe would always be carefully aimed at another enemy. This time, too, Ruby took down some Grimm even in the process of slowing herself for the landing.

Looking up, Yang observed the approach of her remaining teammates. Ruby was closely followed by Weiss, who used her glyphs to good effect in the descent. The Schnee heiress was their team's safety net: her Semblance was the most flexible, and if any of them somehow botched the landing, Weiss could always come to their aid.

This time, though, it looked like all of them were getting down fine on their own. Blake, the last of them to the ground, had used an improvised approach. Yang's partner had used her time in the air to lasso herself to a Giant Nevermore. Using Gambol Shroud's ribbon to choke the life out off the Grimm creature, Blake forced it to the ground in a controlled descent.

"Okay! So where are we going?" Yang looked around at each of her friends in turn. "Anybody got a map?"

* * *

Blake did, in fact, have a map. That is, Blake had a collection of photos of Ozpin's handwritten notes, and she was nowhere near ready to explain to the rest of the team why she had them. Since nobody expected Blake to volunteer anything, it was all too easy to stay silent as Ruby projected a colorful image from her scroll. Blake felt only a little guilty.

"Atlas sent a drone to fly over this area last week and take surveillance images," Ruby explained. "Then the analysts compared them to the records we have from the abandoned settlement and determined several likely locations for the stockpile. That's the yellow flags." Ruby pointed out four locations on the map.

"So we've got some walking to do," Yang summarized.

"Well… yes. But that's not the important part. The red flags," here Ruby waved her hand over the entire map, as the red markers were indeed pretty much everywhere, "are suspected locations of Grimm nests. We maybe don't want to have all of them after us at once, so let's try to avoid those if we can."

Blake leaned over the map. She immediately spotted the key detail Ruby had yet to mention. Blake wasn't the only one.

"I don't want to be unnecessarily pessimistic here," Weiss began, "but that yellow marker next to the mountain that's practically on top of a red one…"

"Yup." Ruby smiled. "It's exactly what you think. Want to bet that's where our Dust is?"

Blake sighed. "Might as well hit the other ones first. Who knows, maybe we've finally got a mission where nothing's going to go terribly wrong."

"Well, the closest one's just north of here. So let's head out and, uh, watch for anything that looks like it's holding a huge cache of Dust crystals?"

Yang responded by reloading her gauntlets. With nothing more to say, the team headed into the forest.

 _Missions in the wilderness are a nice change of pace_ , Blake decided. It didn't exactly take a lot of introspection to figure out why, either. 'Moral clarity' was probably the best way to put it. Whenever people got involved, they inevitably all wanted different things, and all of them thought that they had good reasons to be the ones to get what they want. Here on Lotan, it was just the four of them against a horde of Grimm. _And the ghosts of the people that lived here once_ , Blake suddenly thought. _But you can't let them down if they're already dead._

Shaking her head to clear it, Blake decided to scout ahead. Giving a hand signal to Ruby to indicate what she was up to, she launched Gambol Shroud into the trees as a grappling hook, using it to swing herself up onto a low-hanging branch. Jumping from tree to tree, Blake quickly outpaced the rest of the team.

She reached their first target in only a few minutes. The structure featured a rounded roof that had once been covered by glass panes. At first glance, it made Blake think of a greenhouse, but she quickly realized that couldn't be it. The building wasn't _meant_ to have plants growing inside it, it had merely been abandoned to the whims of nature for far too long.

Carefully approaching, Blake eventually determined it was safe to jump onto the roof. The metal beams creaked under her weight, but held steady. Looking down through an empty frame, Blake immediately identified the building's original purpose. It had been a train station.

Blake cursed under her breath. The people that lived here… they couldn't have been much less advanced than the Four Kingdoms were now. And in the end, it was all for nothing. The Grimm had come, and the people had fought back, and one by one their lights had winked out, leaving only these empty steel frames behind.

Sliding open her scroll, Blake sent Ruby a message: "Reached first marker. No Grimm in sight. Cache not here either." Then she settled down to wait for her teammates.


	5. How to Follow Tracks

**How to Follow Tracks**

Yang was unimpressed by the appearance of the abandoned railway station. The mopey Faunus girl sitting on its roof, on the other hand, was completely unacceptable. She would have to do something about that.

Actually, the whole mission so far was not living up to her expectations. Apart from the little scuffle at the beginning, they had yet to see any action. Ruby and her I-must-be-a-responsible-leader thing were no doubt happy about that, but Yang was beginning to feel restless. She kicked open the door leading into the station. Maybe there would be something exciting inside. A Deathstalker nest, perhaps?

The interior of the station was abandoned and thoroughly boring. It looked like there hadn't been much to see here even back in the days when the railway had been operational. The station had a single set of tracks in the middle, with a platform to one side; the whole thing was covered by a glass dome to protect it from the rain. On the other side of the tracks was what Yang imagined had once been an elegant, well-tended garden. Both qualities were long gone, but at least it hadn't quite overgrown the entire train station.

After taking a moment to make sure there was nothing of interest to be found in the vicinity, the team reconvened at the entrance to the station. Ruby and Weiss were looking over the map, discussing where to go next.

"Alright," Ruby finally said. "Best guess, two of the other three markers are also along the railroad, if we follow it west. We might have to backtrack later if we don't find anything, but that doesn't seem too likely. Weiss thinks that this railroad was primarily used to ship Dust, which means we should expect to find the stockpile somewhere close by."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Yang asked. "Let's head out. Unless you're telling me that this means we're not going to run into any more Grimm, in which case I may literally die of disappointment."

"No major concentrations of Grimm until the third marker," said Weiss. "But the supplementary report in our briefing indicated that their activity was generally higher to the west. In all likelihood, we will encounter some Grimm along the way."

As they set out on their way along the tracks, Yang couldn't resist asking the natural follow-up question. "You read the supplementary report? I thought those only got written because the military needs to find jobs for the grunts with bad aim."

"I had to do something on the flight!" Weiss defended herself. "Ruby was cleaning her scythe for hours, Blake was fiddling with her scroll, and you were asleep the whole time."

"Was I—I was not asleep!" Yang replied indignantly.

"Yang, you were snoring," Blake pointed out.

"Yes, well, in my defense, I had a long night. You'd never guess how much alcohol it takes to get Ruby drunk."

"I'm not surprised," Weiss said. "In our first year at Beacon, Sun spiked the punch at the dance. Ruby had at least three glasses of it and never even noticed."

"That jerk! I helped organize the dance—if anyone were going to spike the punch, it should have been me!"

The conversation continued in this vein, with Blake and Ruby occasionally interjecting with their own memories of their days at Beacon. The tension of the mission was temporarily gone, though Ruby remained diligent about keeping an eye out for trouble. So she was the one to interrupt them, half an hour later, with: "Hold on, everyone. There's something unusual up ahead."

Further along the tracks was an object that, as they came closer, Yang identified as a boxcar. Time had left its exterior rusted but intact. The four of them approached warily, but no threats emerged.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't what we're here for, but we might as well have a look inside anyway," Yang said. Without waiting for anyone else, she pulled on the end door of the train car.

The cargo inside was revealed to be crates of Dust.

* * *

Weiss approached the train car, intrigued. With Yang's help, she managed to lift a crate and bring it out into the light.

The Dust inside it was packed into cubes, each about an inch wide. Weiss picked one out and inspected it. It seemed to be a mix of Dust colors, with red predominating, covered with a gel coating that kept it in its shape. The coating would probably also protect the Dust against sudden impact. An unusual engineering solution; Weiss didn't recall having ever seen Dust in this form before.

"Weiss, behind you!" she heard Blake shout.

Weiss spun around, instinctively raising a glyph in front of her. A split second later, a huge mass coated in black fur impacted the glyph. The force behind the jump was surprisingly strong: instead of throwing the Grimm back, the glyph merely stopped it, dissipating in the process.

Weiss stepped back and drew Myrtenaster. With a minute flick of the wrist, she sent a wave of cold against her assailant, encasing it in solid ice. Retreating to medium range, she breathed a sigh of relief. The unexpected attack could have ended poorly, but once Weiss had the battle under control, no single Grimm could truly threaten her. She inspected the creature. It was an Alpha Beowolf, unusually large and therefore rather old; nevertheless, a standard Grimm that no longer posed any threat.

Then the Beowolf roared and burst into flame.

The ice holding the Grimm in place melted in a fraction of a second. A cloud of steam rose around the beast. Weiss cast a haste glyph at the ground beneath her feet; not because she needed a speed boost, but to lower her reaction time once the enemy reappeared. The moment in which you lost sight of your opponent, she knew, was the most dangerous moment of a fight.

The Beowolf leaped out of the steam cloud before it had cleared entirely. Tracking the Grimm with her eyes, Weiss thumbed Myrtenaster's cartridge, trying to decide on the most advantageous element to use. A master of fencing must strike neither early nor late, waiting for a gap in the opponent's defense to appear.

All strategy left her thoughts when she saw that the Beowolf was heading directly for Blake, and that the Faunus would be unable to dodge in time. Blake was already beginning to crouch for a roll, but she didn't have the benefit of Weiss's glyph. Faster than conscious thought, Weiss sent a lance of fire to intercept. A poor choice for this enemy, the element was prompted by anger rather than tactics.

The attack was more powerful than she had intended. Throwing the beast aside, it hit a tree behind it. The tree exploded with the pressure of being rapidly heated, showering the battlefield with cinders.

Yang was the next to react. True to form, the brawler quickly closed with their enemy, engaging it in a rapid exchange of blows. Weiss rushed forward, but the melee was too quick for her to follow.

A few seconds later, the Grimm came flying out of the fight, crashing to the ground. A streak of red, trailed by a handful of rose petals: Ruby dashed over to the downed monster, finishing it off with a decapitating blow before it could get back up.

The fight had taken less than a minute, but that was usual when they encountered truly dangerous situations; a second was all it took to kill or to be killed. Having learned from too many close shaves, Team RWBY had prioritized speed above all in their training. Shouted battle plans had to go out the window, in favor of a intuitive understanding of each other's tactics.

Yang made a show of brushing some ashes from her shoulders. "Okay. That happened. What next?"

"The train car can't possibly hold enough Dust to be the stockpile we're here for," Ruby pointed out. "We'll flag it for later pickup, but for now we're proceeding down the tracks to the third site. Now that we know how much Dust they were shipping here, it's definitely looking like that'll be our target."

They set off again in a post-battle silence. Weiss was reviewing the tactics she had used, assessing them for effectiveness. She wasn't sure what had given the Grimm its power over fire, but for now it looked like she couldn't rely on her ice holding down any of their enemies for long.

An hour passed uneventfully. A few times, the group heard the sound of Grimm in the distance, but the day had gone well so far, and none of them were emitting enough anxiety for the creatures to track.

When a turn of the railroad led them out into a wide clearing, Weiss gasped in surprise. A mere hundred yards from them was a large warehouse, surrounded by the remains of a barbed-wire fence and giving off the impression of a military installation. It had survived the years exceptionally well, but for a large chunk of the roof that was missing—as though torn out.

However, the warehouse was only the second most striking feature of the clearing. The space between them was packed with thousands of Grimm. Lizard-like creatures similar to the ones they had encountered upon landing had made dozens of nests here, fighting for every square inch of space. Some crawled on the ground; some had fully grown wings, and let out horrid cries as they chased each other in the air. The horde had not yet noticed Team RWBY, but it was only a matter of time.

"Stand back, everyone," Weiss said. "I've got this." Then she kneeled on the ground and began to panic.

Semblances were poorly understood in general; hereditary ones no less so. But Weiss had a theory about her own, and it explained why she had been unable to make progress with summoning for a long time.

Her sister, Winter, had been in the military for her entire career, her life filled with discipline and order. When she had fought against the Grimm, she was focused and confident; it was this very focus and confidence that she had demanded from Weiss in her training sessions.

Weiss, on the other hand, had gained most of her experience from fighting when she was in over her head. Fighting for her life, she had defeated her most dangerous opponents in a state of terror and despair. And now, to summon those opponents to fight for her, it was that very terror and despair that she had to draw on.

She felt, rather than saw, a giant glyph appear in front of her. Heavy footsteps shook the ground; her summoned thrall marched steadily toward the warehouse, scattering the reptilian Grimm and crushing those too slow to flee.

"Damn, Ice Queen," she heard Yang say, as if through a haze. "When'd you bag a Goliath?"

"Second battle for Beacon," Weiss managed to respond. "I can understand if you don't remember; as I recall, you took a head blow and got knocked out halfway through."

Then, still kneeling on the ground, Weiss threw up.

* * *

Ruby couldn't help but look over at Weiss in concern, though she knew from experience that the heiress would recover if given a minute to rest. The best way to give Weiss that minute was to go on the offensive, ensuring that the lizard Grimm would have other threats to worry about.

The summoned Goliath had done a good job of scattering their enemy, dissipating only as it reached the warehouse. This would not be enough, however. Weiss had given them an opening, but to secure the stockpile, they needed to clear the area of any remaining Grimm, hundreds of which still swarmed the clearing.

Ruby took a deep breath and activated her Semblance, dashing across the battlefield. Blake and Yang, she knew, would attack the flanks, but now was not the time to think about that. Ruby needed to take the remaining moments before the fight to plan out her opening moves.

Taking a running jump, Ruby used Crescent Rose to pull one of the flying Grimm down from the sky. It hit the ground with a thud. Ruby stabbed down as she landed on it. She swung her scythe in a wide forward slash. The weapon caught on a Grimm's skull-mask. She spun it around. The Grimm went flying. It landed some twenty feet away, colliding with another approaching enemy.

Ruby heard a loud cry from above. She let the weight of her scythe pull her forward. A winged Grimm crashed into the ground behind her. She turned the motion into a spin, decapitating the creature with a single swing.

Sharp teeth closed around her ankle. Ruby responded by firing blindly into the ground beside her. She missed the creature, but the unexpected sound made it relax its jaws. Ruby kicked it. Her foot slammed into the lizard's skull. She felt and heard the bone crack.

As the fight continued, Ruby began to purposefully advance in one direction, herding the Grimm into the center of the battlefield. She knew that Blake and Yang—and Weiss, once she recovered—would work in concert with this plan.

She swung her scythe. The blade hardly slowed as it bisected another of the lizards. She pulled back on Crescent Rose. A Grimm that had gotten too close to Ruby found itself missing a paw. She flipped her weapon around, firing into the air. A flying Grimm met the bullet head-on, dying before it hit the ground. She jumped to one side, landing in a crouch. A blood-red claw slashed the air where she had stood a moment earlier.

Ruby felt herself growing tired. These creatures were weak individually, but their numbers were overwhelming. She wasn't sure how much longer any of them could last without taking serious injuries. Fortunately, the next stage of the plan was almost in place.

To an outside observer, one strategic feature of the fight so far would have been readily apparent. With a mix of violence and intimidation, Ruby and Yang had pushed the Grimm back nearly halfway across the battlefield. Even Weiss had already managed to solidify her position somewhat. Blake, on the other hand, was clearly losing ground, and was in danger of being forced into the forest. An outside observer might have conjectured that her abilities were more suited to sneaking and running, and could not contribute to an all-out fight.

"Now, Blake!" Ruby yelled.

The feline huntress leaped into the air with all the grace of, well, a cat, and retreated into the branches of a nearby tree. Before any of the Grimm could react, Blake pulled out her scroll and touched a finger to the screen.

A full quarter of the battlefield exploded.

This was the turning point. Nearly all the Grimm had been forced onto ground that Blake had mined in her fighting retreat. Few of them survived. A handful of the winged lizards remained, but decided not to stick around, their cries carried away by the wind as they fled into the skies.

Ruby grinned. _Score one for plan Herding Cats._

A sudden chime alerted Ruby to a message on her scroll through the military channel. _About time,_ she thought, deploying the device's screen to answer the call.

"This is Prometheus-class airship _Nineveh_ calling Team RWBY. Our ETA is in five minutes. Is the airhead secure and cleared for landing?"

" _Nineveh_ , this is Team RWBY." The Huntress looked around the battlefield. Explosions had torn the clearing apart; the dissolving bodies of the slaughtered Grimm left the ground covered in a dark haze. "Yeah. Yeah, you're good to go."


	6. How to Leave Your Mark

**How to Leave Your Mark**

Irrationally, Weiss had expected one of the standard Bullhead-class transports, though if she had actually stopped to consider the matter, she would have realized that it would take a fleet of those to transport a warehouse's worth of Dust. The _Nineveh_ was a much larger airship of a model Weiss had never seen before. Hovering above them, it reminded her of a large fish; the wings on either side resembled flippers and seemed much too small to support the airship in flight.

The _Nineveh_ touched down within a few feet of the warehouse's entrance. As Weiss and the others approached, the airship's tail unfolded, extruding a landing ramp that hit the ground with a thud. Within seconds, a squad of soldiers emerged, alert and quite willing to point their rifles at any sign of movement. They were closely followed by another group of crew members, huddled on some sort of automated loading pallet.

A tall woman with long violet hair and a determined, no-nonsense manner went out to greet Team RWBY. Weiss found her face vaguely familiar, and after some thought identified her as the ship's captain. The woman greeted them politely, but warmly.

"We expect trouble: given the location, it would be foolish not to," she said. "Our goal is to load the goods onboard and be out of here before a horde of Grimm shows up." The captain looked around, and raised her eyebrows slightly at the evidence of battle. " _Another_ horde of Grimm, I should say. The _Nineveh_ 's your ride back, but I would appreciate it if you didn't make yourself comfortable on board quite yet. My men are well-equipped, but they're not prepared for this level of action."

"Of course," Weiss inclined her head. Ever since the incident with the retired admiral, Ruby deferred to her in interacting with the military types, despite being the team's leader. "We'll be on the lookout for any signs of danger."

The captain nodded. "Very well. I'm heading back onto the aircraft, but I'll be available on the standard military comm channel in case of an emergency." After waiting to make sure Weiss had nothing else to add, the captain departed.

Ruby gave Blake and Yang the boring but necessary duty of patrolling the edge of the clearing to watch for Grimm, with the promise of relieving them after an hour. Left unspoken was the implication that Weiss still needed time to recover after the biggest summoning glyph they had ever seen her use. Weiss toyed with the idea of taking offense, but she _was_ grateful for the opportunity to rest.

With nothing better to do, Weiss went over to observe the workers loading Dust onto the ship. Unsurprisingly, the Dust was stored in the same gel cubes she'd seen earlier in the train car; they were packed, with the aid of a transparent plastic wrapping, into larger cubes about as tall as Weiss. Despite their size, the large cubes were still light enough for one person to lift, if not comfortably: Dust was a surprisingly light material.

The crew spent the first half hour after the landing in setting up a sort of conga line to make clearing out the entire warehouse as easy as possible. Once that task was done, loading proceeded quickly. The workers had made one round trip with the loading pallet, and had just about filled it for another. That was when it all started to go wrong.

* * *

Patrol duty constituted most of the work involved in a typical mission. Blake did not love it, but the opportunity to dive into a familiar, well-rehearsed task was comforting. She split off from Yang to cover more ground, and set off on a jog around the edge of the clearing. Blake investigated each unusual noise and inspected each footprint with the thoroughness of an experienced Huntress. For all that, she made two rookie mistakes.

The first mistake was failing to look up.

"Um… guys?" One of the soldiers interrupted a conversation several of the others were having, pointing a finger at the sky. "Is it just me, or is that bird, like, really big?"

The second mistake was failing to expect the worst.

"Don't start panicking now," cautioned an older soldier. "We're only here for a few hours; they'll go by quicker if you don't jump at every—"

The soldier's brief scream of pain was the first sound from the warehouse to reach Blake's ears. The second sound was the dull thud of something very, very large hitting the ground. Blake turned and start running back to the airship. Then she looked up. Then she started expecting the worst.

The Grimm beast looming over the soldiers bore a superficial similarity to the reptilian Grimm they had fought earlier. It, too, stood on four lizard-like feet; at the monster's scale, the red claws tipping them were a meter long each. Its pointed head was covered with bony plates that faded into an armor of white scales covering its entire body. By far the most prominent feature, though, were the black, leathery wings that stretched out to a span rivaling the _Nineveh_ 's.

The soldiers, if shaken by the arrival of a giant monster in their midst, were too disciplined to show it. Lifting their rifles in unison, they opened fire on the Grimm. At first, the beast did not react at all; such actions were outside its experience. When one of the slugs pierced a sensitive spot, however, it finally took notice of the attack. Opening its mouth, the beast breathed out… and released a stream of fire concentrated on the soldiers.

Blake was the only one to continue running towards the monster when the screaming started. Some of the crew ran, quite sensibly, to the safety of their airship. Others, less sensibly, ran to find cover in the forest. Blake hoped that Ruby and Weiss would go after them; her own part in the encounter, at least, was obvious.

Feeling rather foolish, Blake cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Over here, lizard face!"

In the way that all giant Grimm had of moving deceptively quickly, the monster lashed out at Blake with one of its front paws. A red claw the exact shade of blood passed through the spot where Blake stood. Except that Blake wasn't there; she hadn't been there for several seconds. Standing up to catch the monster's eye, she channeled her inner Yang and shouted: "What's the matter? Getting too old to catch me?" Then she activated her Semblance once again to dodge a lethal spray of fire.

Blake's initial plan was simple; distract the beast, dodging its every blow, while her teammates led the _Nineveh_ 's crew to safety. She quickly began to realize, however, that this trick would not keep working for long. Reckless Grimm that went after whatever kept running away did not survive for the decades or centuries it took to reach this size. An elder Grimm was pragmatic; if one target proved too elusive, it would switch its focus to other, more vulnerable prey.

To keep distracting the beast, she would have to be vulnerable.

A minute later, Blake sensed that the Grimm's patience was nearing its end. When the Grimm next struck, Blake allowed herself to dodge a fraction of a second too late. The monster's claws did not rip her apart, as intended, but scored a glancing blow across her thigh. Blood spilled onto the grass as she dodged away.

The ancient Grimm was very familiar with the smell of blood.

Blake figured that now, the Grimm would keep trying to catch her, expecting its prey to slow down after being wounded. Unfortunately, with each subsequent dodge, she really did find herself slowing down. The monster's claws came closer and closer to stabbing through Blake's own flesh, rather than the clone left behind by her Semblance. Still, she only had to last long enough for everyone else to get clear…

Unexpectedly, Blake felt a solid blow slamming into her from the side. Had she miscalculated?

Then Blake noticed the slight scent of roses, and felt herself being carried, faster than she could have moved on her own. _Oh. That's alright, then._ Blake relaxed.

A second later, Ruby set her down on the cold metal floor of the _Nineveh_ 's cargo hold. Around them, a dozen wounded soldiers were lying or sitting in various states of injury, most of them suffering from severe burns. Medical personnel with stretchers were carrying away those of them that could not walk.

"You did it, Blake," Ruby said. "We got everyone back on board. We're retreating to land in a safer spot and make sure the wounded are taken care of. Then the four of us will come back without risking anyone else, and see if we can find a way to take that overgrown lizard down."

"Before you start plotting revenge," Yang interrupted, "can someone tell me what that Grimm thinks it's doing?"

Blake lifted herself to her feet and looked outside. She expected the beast to be searching for its escaped prey, ready to attack anything that moved. Instead, it had approached the abandoned loading pallet, partially filled with cubes of Dust. The monster's head bent down over a stack of the cubes, and then… swallowed it?

"I wonder if that's where the fire-breathing comes from," Weiss mused. "If that Grimm has been eating the Dust in this stockpile, its body would have to eventually adapt to the energy it was absorbing. Well, maybe. It's not like anyone has experimented with this."

The lizard monster, having finished off the Dust on the pallet, turned its head upward, sniffing the air. After a few moments of looking this way or that, the Grimm turned to look directly at the airship.

Blake glanced to her side at the stack of Dust cubes sitting in the cargo hold. "If it's after the Dust, and it can tell that we have it, then it's not going to let us go. We can either fight it here and now, or else think of a way to distract it."

Everyone turned to look at Ruby.

* * *

 _Okay, Ruby. This is it. Your friends are counting on you to get them out of this. Do you have a plan?_

Ruby looked around. What resources did she have? They were in the cargo hold of an Atlesian airship, which probably held an assortment of weapons and useful gadgets she didn't have time to sort through. They had a lot of Dust in the shape of funny little cubes. A few of the soldiers were uninjured, but none of them were in any shape to fight.

Blake had brought all sorts of supplies on the mission; mostly explosives, though she'd leaned on those pretty heavily in the fight earlier. Yang had her supply of explosive rounds, which probably wouldn't help. Weiss's tricks with Dust would ordinarily be useful, but her ice probably wouldn't hold a fire-breathing Grimm for more than a few seconds.

 _Now think about what you want to achieve. You can only have one goal that you'll sacrifice anything else for; decide what it is. You're a Huntress, Ruby. That's not the kind of job where you get to pick between_ good _options._ The voice in Ruby's head was beginning to sound uncomfortably like her uncle Qrow.

What did she want? What did winning look like? Ruby frowned. Winning was not the same as completing Ironwood's mission. Above all, she wanted her friends to make it off this forsaken continent alive. They would _not_ be another footnote in the history of Huntsmen and Huntresses that came to Lotan to die.

Ruby thought she saw a way to do that. She didn't like it.

"Blake, I need the rest of your supplies—no time to look through them to see what will work. Yang, tell the captain to prepare the ship to take off on my signal, but don't close the cargo hold until the last second. Weiss, remember the slingshot trick from our first year at Beacon? I need you to make that happen again." Ruby accepted Blake's backpack from her hands. "Blake, we'll need your help with that, too."

The few seconds it took to set up seemed like an eternity. How long would it take for the monster outside to attack?

"Where do you want me to aim?" asked Weiss.

"Wing. Give it as much of an arc as you can."

And then Ruby was flying.

She didn't bother shooting at the Grimm; that would accomplish nothing, just irritate it. Instead, she simply pointed the sharp point of Crescent Rose's shaft forward. The weapon stabbed through the monster's wing and kept going, embedding itself solidly in the ground. The beast howled in pain and anger.

Without looking back, Ruby dashed for the warehouse. Either she had the Grimm pinned to its spot, or she didn't; in the second case, she was probably dead anyway.

Blake's supply bag didn't have the device she had hoped for, but she could make do. It would just require very careful timing. Ruby made the necessary preparations as quickly as she could, trying not to think about the howling monster just outside. Having done what she came for, she sent the go-ahead signal to Yang.

Her sister was as good as her word; by the time Ruby had begun her dash back to the airship, it had already begun to lift off the ground. Ruby jumped; at the speed she was going, her push off the ground carried her dozens of feet upward. She half-flew, half-fell into the cargo hold of the airship, turning the landing into a roll.

Due to the angle of the takeoff, the floor was slanted, and Ruby had to hang on to a railing to keep her balance. Nearly everything had been tied down, but some of the retrieved Dust had come loose, and little cubes of it were rolling down the floor.

Ruby finally allowed herself to look back at the monster. Still pinned to the ground by Crescent Rose, the Grimm was struggling to escape, tearing at its own wing. Was it going to stay put for long enough?

No. It wasn't. Ruby turned to Weiss. "I need you to buy me ten more seconds." She left the need for precision unsaid; with Weiss, one could take it as a given.

"I hope you know what you're doing," replied Weiss. Then she jumped.

With nothing left to do but trust her partner, Ruby watched Weiss fall. At the last second, the Schnee heiress angled her descent with a glyph, pointing Myrtenaster straight out in front of her. The blade stabbed into the Grimm's bony hide as she reached it, trapping its feet in a block of ice.

Weiss turned to flee before the monster could attack her. A stream of glyphs extended out in front of her into the sky. Weiss began to run along it, accelerating with every step. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as her partner landed—much more gracefully than she had—back in the cargo hold.

"Start closing the door!" Ruby yelled.

Back on the ground, the monster roared, flooding its surroundings with fire. It strained against the scythe piercing its wings one final time, and for a moment Ruby thought it would break free and fly after them.

Then the warehouse exploded.


	7. How to Catch a Plane

**How to Catch a Plane**

The airship shook violently as the shock wave from the explosion hit. Yang barely managed to hold on to avoid being thrown into the wall of the cargo hold. She was no pilot, but even she could appreciate that the dips and spins that followed were in fact evidence of the crew's incredible competence; only a miracle prevented the _Nineveh_ from crashing to the ground.

At last, the airship's trajectory steadied. Yang looked around, and was relieved to see her teammates present and intact. Weiss had made it back onboard in time, but had been thrown around badly, until Ruby had caught her. Ruby was still gripping Weiss's wrist tightly, though Yang doubted that either had noticed. Blake was standing up and her lips were moving. Yang, deafened by the explosion, was unable to make out a word.

Slowly, Yang lifted herself to her feet and made her way to a window. Below them, she could see only a cloud of dust. Nothing was moving. Yang supposed that not even an ancient Grimm could have survived.

Yang and her teammates had managed to pull themselves together somewhat when, only a minute later, the _Nineveh_ 's captain made her way from the main deck. The captain's violet hair was in disarray, and her arm had been hastily splinted and bandaged. Yang was suddenly reminded that, as a Huntress, she was shielded by her Aura in ways that most people weren't.

"What the hell was that?" The captain certainly wasn't wasting any time with polite greetings.

Ruby stood up and turned to face the captain. The expression on her face was determined, yet she seemed fragile to Yang in a way she couldn't identify. "Executive decision in the field," Ruby replied. "The Grimm would have pursued us. I saw a chance to take it down without losing any more lives. I took it."

"What about the Dust we were sent to retrieve? General Ironwood will not be happy." This, Yang suspected, was the woman's primary concern.

"I take full responsibility," Ruby said. "Take the airship back to Atlas. I will speak to the general myself when we return."

"Very well. You and your team may accompany me to the cabin that has been set aside for your use." If the captain was relieved by Ruby's assurance or offended by her bluntness, she didn't show either emotion.

One by one, they followed the captain out of the cargo hold. The cabin they were led to was probably meant for senior officials in the military, and was furnished with all the comforts one could reasonably expect on an airship. Yang gratefully sank into one of the cushioned seats.

Ruby collapsed into an adjacent seat. Yang looked at her in concern. Suddenly, she realized what was making her sister appear so vulnerable.

"Ruby, your weapon… Did you leave Crescent Rose behind in the cargo hold?" Already, Yang knew that her guess was false. Ruby took her scythe with her when she was going out drinking; she wouldn't have let go of it for anything immediately after a dangerous mission.

Ruby turned away from Yang. "Left it behind on the ground. Had to, to keep the Grimm from flying after us. She—it wouldn't have survived the explosion." Ruby's quiet voice was almost emotionless, but Yang could hear the tension behind it.

Yang wanted to continue the conversation, to reassure Ruby, but she knew from experience that it wouldn't help. The two sisters were alike in wanting to be alone when dealing with shock. Besides, Yang couldn't think of anything to say.

She looked around the cabin, but Weiss and Blake were also reluctant to meet her eyes. Looking at each in turn, Yang could tell how much the mission had taken out of them.

Weiss was looking down at her hands, which were shaking slightly, and was not bothering to keep up her usual ice queen impersonation. Yang remembered that even after summoning a Goliath, Weiss had had the strength to banter with her. Just now, though, she was recovering from her near brush with death—from Ruby sending her down to the ground seconds before it was due to turn into a deadly inferno.

Yang was more worried about Blake, though. She knew that her partner would have logical reasons to justify every action she had taken in the fight. True, Blake had the most defensive Semblance out of all of them; Yang wasn't sure of her own ability to go toe to toe with an ancient Grimm for as long as Blake had. Even the injury Blake had taken would probably have a justification. That didn't change the fact that Blake's tactics had been the most frankly suicidal Yang had seen in her entire career as a Huntress. Blake was feeling guilty about something, and it was affecting her fighting style. Confronting her wouldn't help; she probably couldn't even tell she was doing it.

The flight back to Atlas would be a long one.

* * *

As soon as she got the chance, Blake bandaged up her side, though the scratch on it turned out not to be life-threatening. After that, Blake's second airship flight of the day was spent in the same way as her first: reading through the documents she had obtained from Ironwood's office, trying to understand the hidden meaning behind them. It was slow going. None of the diagrams were labeled, the language was archaic and littered with unfamiliar idioms, and fully half the pages fit together into a large-scale map of Lotan which was covered with incomprehensible symbols. Did one of the symbols mean, "Beware of fire-breathing lizards that eat Dust"? Were there clues in these pages that would have let her rescue the mission from failure, if she had figured them out in time?

Lost in her thoughts, Blake barely noticed the landing. She followed her teammates off the airship. True to her word, Ruby headed straight to the military headquarters to make her report; the rest of them followed passively.

"I am sorry, but General Ironwood is unavailable for the rest of the day," reported the receptionist. "An urgent report has been received that commands his immediate attention."

That made no sense to Blake. The general would have known to expect their return from Lotan, bringing back one of the only reports ever made of the situation on the fifth continent. Blake didn't think that it was too self-centered of her to be skeptical that another report could be more important than that. It appeared that her teammates agreed, though Ruby—swallowing her prepared explanations—had not yet managed to make a coherent reply.

"Wait, you're Team RWBY, right?" The receptionist's manner switched to a more respectful one. "The general has left special instructions for you. He apologizes for the delay, and asks that you return first thing tomorrow morning to make your mission report."

And that was that, apparently. Blake shrugged inwardly as the team turned to leave. In the end, she supposed that nothing they had to report was truly urgent. After all, they had literally blown the only reason to revisit Lotan apart into tiny pieces.

They returned home, and after a quick meal of takeout that Yang had had the foresight to order, Blake headed out onto the roof. She often found that it was easier to think while looking up at the night sky and out at the lights of the city around them.

After a few minutes, Blake heard the roof creak behind her. She turned her head and saw Ruby coming up to sit beside her on the edge of the roof.

Blake said the first thing that popped into her head. "Thank you for getting me away from that Grimm, back in Lotan. I'm not sure how much longer I could've kept dodging. I'm sorry that—"

 _That what? That you risked your life for me? That you had to sacrifice the weapon that you named like it was a part of your family? That I couldn't think of a way to save the day? That I never even told you about the notes I had stolen from the General's office?_

"Hush, Blake." Ruby put up a hand, forestalling any reply on Blake's part. "You're beating yourself up over this like it's our worst failure and all your fault. But really, when you think about it, you could call the mission a success, right?" Ruby laughed softly. "After all, not many teams could have made it out of Lotan at all. We did it without any losses!"

"Unless we count all the Dust," Blake pointed out. "And your scythe."

"Crescent Rose," Ruby looked aside, "was just a weapon. I mean, I did build her myself—but I was just fifteen at the time. I'll make another scythe, and it will be even better! I could add a grenade launcher…" Ruby stopped herself; she had clearly been about to trail off into brainstorming weapon ideas.

"In the meantime," Ruby continued, "I actually have a favor to ask you. Could you teach me some hand-to-hand moves so that I'm not completely helpless when I'm not holding a scythe? I'd ask Yang, but," Ruby lowered her voice dramatically, "between you and me, I think sis punches a bit out of my weight class. So will you help me out?"

Blake smiled. "I'd like that."

* * *

Weiss spent the early hours of the morning worrying. Ruby had intentionally disobeyed Ironwood's orders on the previous day's mission, in the process destroying the stockpile he wanted them to retrieve. The general had never gotten along well with Ruby, but this time the fallout would be much worse: in the past, they had always had a successful mission to point to when the general criticized Ruby's methods.

Generally, if Ironwood wanted to punish them, he could assign them a long-term post in another kingdom, which would not be too bad. They might even enjoy it, which was probably what had always stopped the general. But if he pushed through a charge of insubordination, they might be expelled from the ranks of Huntsmen. This would leave them with few options; at best, former Huntsmen became mercenaries or security personnel. At worst, they became criminals.

Weiss would not let it come to that. She could, as a last resort, ask her father for help, much as she loathed the idea. The man _would_ help them, and their current troubles would go away easily; the military was heavily dependent on the Schnee Dust company, so her family had always had a lot of leverage. However, her father would never give them his assistance without asking for something in return. Maybe she could gain some concessions from Ironwood merely by implying her father's support…

After a breakfast that Weiss inhaled without noticing, the team made their way to the military headquarters once again. At the early hour, the building was almost empty, and they reached General Ironwood's office without encountering anyone who recognized them.

The general was already in his office, pacing impatiently with his hands folded behind his back. He did not invite his guests to sit.

"I constantly remind myself," he began, "that the Academies have always had their differences in philosophy. Headmaster Ozpin had always favored an… unorthodox approach to discipline. In recent years, I have inherited his problems, his cares, and many of his former students. It is only natural that we should not always see eye to eye on matters."

General Ironwood turned to look directly at Ruby. "Do you know," he asked her, "what approach I have always taken in resolving such conflicts?"

Weiss expected Ruby to be intimidated into silence; she thought she would have been, in Ruby's place. However, her partner looked up directly at the general, confident if not exactly defiant. "No," she responded quietly. "I don't."

The general nodded. "I have set for myself the rule: when faced with methods I do not understand, avoid arguing with success. I may think that your strategies are doomed to failure. I may think that your reliance on impulsive decisions is doomed in the long run. I may think that your past successes are due in large part to blind luck. If so, I should not have long to wait until you—inevitably—fail."

Ironwood drew out the pause that followed. Unconsciously, Weiss took a step back. When she realized it, she quashed that reflex and moved to stand beside Ruby. Their leader would have an answer; she always did. And Weiss would be there to support her.

But Ruby did not reply. Instead, she looked down at her feet, flushing slightly.

The moment ended when Ironwood approached his desk and placed his scroll on its surface. "Unfortunately," the general continued, "today does not appear to be that day." He tapped the surface of the scroll, projecting an image to the opposite wall.

Weiss turned to look at the image. It was a video recording. With a start, she recognized the scenery; they were seeing the landscape of Lotan, from a point high above the ground.

"I sent a surveillance drone to observe the outcome of your mission," Ironwood said. "Thankfully, the correct location was not difficult to determine." He nodded at the projection. The video panned to show a cloud of dust and ashes in the middle of an otherwise pristine forest.

"The drone approached over a period of hours." The video continued at accelerated speed, the dust settling and dissipating unnaturally quickly. The camera was then pointed down into the crater that was left by the explosion.

Weiss gasped. "But that's…"

"Dust," Ironwood said. "More precisely, a vein of Dust crystals richer than any seen in the kingdoms."

A ray of sunlight briefly shone into the crater, and for a moment its center sparkled with every color of the rainbow. The general stopped the video on that frame.

"So, you see," he said, "your mission appears, after all, to be an extraordinary success. That the explosion should be powerful enough to reveal the Dust vein, yet fall short of setting off a chain reaction—well, it is quite the coincidence." He smiled grimly. "Extraordinary success deserves an extraordinary reward. Yours will be another mission to the continent of Lotan."

"What will we be doing there?" asked Ruby.

"Supervising mining operations."


	8. Interlude: How to Drink Responsibly

**Interlude: How to Drink Responsibly**

"I think this had better be your last one, buddy," said the bartender.

Bars in Mistral were always no fun like that. No imagination; no desire to stretch your limits or reach out for the impossible. Qrow sighed and turned to look at the television.

The broadcast was a re-run. Qrow was watching it for the third time in as many days, because it made him angry every single time, and anger was a good excuse to get drunk. Qrow hadn't yet decided whom he was angry at; there were two obvious candidates, and one of them was Qrow himself. The other one, of course, was just about to appear on the television screen.

"Citizens of the four kingdoms!" James could be _so_ pompous at times. "I have an important announcement to make. The news I have for you may well change the course of history."

There was cheering throughout the bar. The place was packed with people who had come to hear the general's announcement. Some, like Qrow, were returning to watch it for a second or third time; others had only just now heard about it from their friends. Thus far, Qrow had managed to keep the crowd at a distance by glaring whenever anyone got too close.

"Our transportation, our communication, our defenses—all of our technology, down to the lamps that light our streets, runs on Dust. For years, doomsayers have been claiming that this energy source is running out, and that our reliance on it would bring us to an apocalypse." The camera focused on Jimmy's chiseled jaw; grim, yet determined, the man was gazing out into the future with a defiant eye. Qrow rolled his eyes.

In his years serving as, essentially, Ozpin's personal spymaster, Qrow had investigated these claims personally. The Dust mining companies had guarded their secrets jealously; in the end, however, Qrow had obtained a fuller picture of the situation than any of them. He'd estimated seventy-five to a hundred years until increased Dust consumption would decisively outpace the advances in mining technology, and rationing would have to begin. Ozpin hadn't been concerned, and so Qrow wasn't concerned.

James knew much less about the situation, of course. That was the reason part of Qrow's anger was directed at himself. If he had made more of an effort to avoid severing ties with the general—if he hadn't told James to his face exactly what he thought of him and his decisions—then he wouldn't have had to sit here watching this disaster in the making. He would have been there to tell the general exactly why this broadcast was such a bad idea.

Of course, James probably wouldn't have listened. He'd have replied with something about how the people need to be reassured in order to feel safe, and other such platitudes, and then gone on to do exactly as he pleased.

"The news I have for you today," continued the general, "will put all such worries at rest. Mankind has grown up; we no longer need to be afraid of the dark."

The camera cut to footage of a team of Huntsmen fighting Grimm. To Qrow's eyes, the fight was obviously staged. Of course, no Huntsmen in their right minds would bring a camera crew on a real mission; if they had, much of the footage would be unusable in any case. Nobody wanted to see the defenders of the kingdoms _really_ risking their lives. In this staged fight, the Huntsmen wouldn't even get their clothes dirty.

"Two months ago, Atlas sent one of our elite teams to a destination none had ever braved before. I am speaking of the fifth continent: Lotan."

As far as Qrow had been able to tell by investigating, the mission had indeed taken place as described, but the details were being kept a frustratingly tight secret. Qrow wondered who the "elite team" was. He knew the names and faces of just about all the top Huntsmen of any kingdom, though few of them would recognize Qrow.

"I am happy to say that we have done what so many before us had thought impossible." The camera returned to the general, who was clearly enjoying the attention—and the sound of his own voice. "We have established a foothold in Lotan. And in the process, we have uncovered riches beyond imagination."

Now the television screen was showing a mining operation. Carts loaded with Dust crystals were being lifted out of what Qrow would have sworn looked like the crater from a huge explosion. He supposed it could also have been the site of a meteorite impact.

The camera panned to show that a small town had sprung up around the mining site, bustling with activity. Further in the distance, Qrow noticed the scaffolding of further construction going on.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you—the town of New Hope."

The bar erupted in a cheer. Qrow wasn't feeling it, but figured he'd better join in anyway. The bartender had already started giving him suspicious looks, and Qrow didn't need any kind of attention.

The general continued his speech in the same vein, promising lower Dust prices and greater access to transportation and all sorts of things. Qrow mostly tuned him out, his mind elsewhere, until the very end of the broadcast.

"The continent of Lotan is very dangerous, and we take the safety of our mining operation very seriously. In addition to the latest in automated defenses, our best Huntsmen and Huntresses will be deployed to defend New Hope's perimeter. In command of New Hope's Huntsman corps is Weiss Schnee, whose name you no doubt remember from—"

Weiss Schnee. Qrow was not too well acquainted with Winter's younger sister. But if she was in New Hope, then there was no doubt that Ruby and Yang would be there too.

Maybe he'd have to stop by one of these days. Qrow doubted that New Hope would be open to casual tourism, but it couldn't be difficult to get into. After all, there couldn't be many people eager to go work in a mine on another, likely dangerous, continent; labor would be drafted from all four kingdoms, no questions asked. The general wouldn't even know that Qrow would be there.

Having made the decision to visit his only remaining family, Qrow felt his anger dissipate. After all—who knew—maybe Ironwood's mistakes wouldn't come back to bite them in the end. Statistically, there had to be times when nothing went horribly wrong, right?


	9. How to Make Your Name

**How to Make Your Name**

"Please? Pretty please with sugar on top like those cheap grocery store cookies you keep buying whenever it's your turn to do the shopping?"

"No, Yang."

"Oh, come on! I just can't take it any longer! It's like—you know how it is when you get really drunk and in the morning you have an embarrassing tattoo that doesn't seem nearly as funny as it did twelve hours ago?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what gave you the impression that I would be able to relate to that feeling. In any case, I don't even have the authority to change your weapon's name in the official records. They do tell you to think it through and be sure before you submit it, you know."

Yang pouted. "You might not have the authority, but I bet you do have the access. Just this once, okay?"

"Access that would be revoked if anyone found out I was abusing it. Besides, I bet you'd get tired of the new name within a week. What is it this time? 'Right Hand of Justice'? 'Yellow Fruit Punch'? 'Talk to the Hand'?"

"Oooh, that last one's actually pretty good. But no. What do you think of 'Corona Spark'? I think it fits the theme I've had going. Builds some continuity."

Weiss smirked. "I suppose anything's better than Boo—"

"Don't say it!" Yang threw up her hands in mock terror.

"Fine. Come back in a week and tell me you still like the name, and I'll change it for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I actually have to leave to do the job that gives me the access you're so excited about."

"Thanks, Weiss princess! I knew I could count on you. Hey, let me walk with you to headquarters and I'll tell you what's really going on in town before you begin your oh-so-important sitting at a desk all day."

"It's not just sitting at a desk," Weiss grumbled. However, since nine-tenths of her job was in fact sitting at a desk, she allowed it.

Yang spent the ten-minute walk telling Weiss about the incredible variety of bootleg smuggling that was going on in New Hope, and how close she was to tracking down its ringleaders. The real concern, of course, did not lie in the amount of mood-altering substances that were being smuggled into the mining town. The same organizations, however, were involved in smuggling Dust out of New Hope.

Weiss regretfully said goodbye to Yang as she reached her office in the hastily-erected building that housed New Hope's Huntsman corps. An hour of mind-numbing paperwork later, her good mood had vanished. Weiss was beginning to think that if Yang had the foresight to come by later in the day, Weiss would be so grateful for the company that she'd happily change Yang's weapon's name in a heartbeat just to take a break from signing routine mission details. This was not what she expected when she accepted the position.

A week after their return to Lotan, when it became clear that the paperwork would never end, Weiss began to wonder why a Huntress was needed for her job to begin with. After another week, she fended off the first assassination attempt, as a local drug cartel—and how was it that New Hope acquired its first local drug cartels so quickly?—decided that her replacement would be easier to bribe. So that had answered the question.

The reason _she_ was stuck with the job was probably politics. Thus far, New Hope's mining operation was owned and run by the government of Atlas. Privately owned Dust companies were understandably concerned by this development, even though they had been told multiple times that the current state of affairs was strictly temporary. Putting the Schnee heiress in a high-ranking position reassured the companies that they weren't being shut out entirely; it was also a nod to Schnee Dust in particular, which had previously received all of the Atlesian military's Dust contracts.

Weiss had been dismayed to find that in reality, she had little authority in New Hope. Ironwood entrusted the majority of the town's defenses to the conventional military. Their commander resented the fact that Weiss was not his subordinate, and the relationship between the two military branches was strained.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting Weiss's musings. "Come in!" Weiss responded. Maybe the monotony of her routine would be relieved by an emergency that required her _actual_ training as a Huntress?

No such luck. A young female soldier, probably just out of training, entered the room. "C-commander Schnee?" she began, hesitantly. "I'm sorry to impose on your time, but I lost my identification badge, and I was wondering if you could—"

"Why are you coming to me?" interrupted Weiss, frowning. "Shouldn't your own commanding officer be able to help you?"

"Captain Slate's standing orders are that anyone who damages military equipment—including identification badges, apparently—has to pay for the replacement out of pocket. Which I would! But my first paycheck's not for another week, and I didn't exactly have any money saved up before I enlisted, so…"

Weiss's mental estimate of the man's competency took a nosedive. Such an order was within his rights, and might even make sense given how hard equipment was to replace. But the situation this girl found herself in was just ridiculous.

"Alright," she replied, sighing. "I can't issue you a new badge, but I'll print you a temporary ID card. It will get you the access you need to go about your duties. The card's good for two weeks from today."

The girl babbled her thanks, accepted the ID card, and fled. Shaking her head, Weiss returned to her desk. She had more paperwork to do.

* * *

The morning sun lit up the town of New Hope like a Dust miner on his day off lighting up his first cheap cigarette. It turned the wide street looping around the town bright and cheerful. The sun didn't touch the narrow gaps between the cheaply built houses. Yang knew that the town's heart lay hidden in those shadowed corners. Walk down the right back alley in New Hope, and you can find anything.

Yang didn't take any of the back alleys. She walked the middle of the sunlit street like she owned the whole town. She did. Yang Xiao Long was the law in New Hope; anybody going against it would cross her path sooner or later. Around here, if you wanted a piece of Yang? You'd have better luck trying to take a piece of the sun.

Some tried, of course. Scum stuck to the underside of the town like mud to Yang's shoes. They thought they played the game better than Yang. Soon they'd learn just how—

"Hey, Yang! You look happy this morning. Where are you headed to?"

Yang's brief disappointment at the ruined mood was gone in an instant; she could never get properly mad at Ruby. Yang approached the younger Huntress and ruffled her hair. "Hey, sis. Just off for more of the same old. Catching bad guys, laying down justice, that sort of thing."

Ruby squirmed out from under Yang's hand, but she was grinning. "Break in the case, huh? Those smugglers aren't going to know what hit them."

"That's the plan."

"Well, I gotta catch Blake. You can tell me all about it later!" Ruby waved and ran off down the street.

"Some mornings I wish I could take away that girl's sugar supply," muttered Yang, shaking her head. Then she continued on her way. She had work to do.

The street she was on had been named after some Atlesian king, but the locals called it the Teardrop. The name came from the street's shape, circling the Dust mine and coming to a sharp point in the residential district. Further around the loop, where Yang was headed, the apartment complexes and the rare administrative building gave way to shops, pubs, and other businesses looking to make some quick money from Dust miners on break. As a rule, these were even more shoddily built; the owners either did the job themselves, or hired the cheapest construction crews they could find.

Yang's job was to figure out which of these places served as havens for the smugglers that flocked to the booming mining village. She'd spent most of the last few weeks here, getting to know the people. Not trying to figure out which ones had something to hide; everybody on this side of town was hiding something. But at the right time, and for the right price, some of her new friends would get quite talkative about _their_ friends' secrets…

Yang approached a little shop, still closed, and knocked on the door three times. According to the sign over the door, the place was a bookstore, though Yang wouldn't bet on half the mine workers even knowing how to read.

A frail old man opened the door for Yang, then closed it again immediately after she walked in. The shop owner relayed messages between New Hope and, Yang suspected, almost all of the major criminal organizations of Remnant. Yang overlooked it… as long as the man shared some of the juiciest messages with her.

"This one's just in with yesterday's shipment," the old man confided in her, pointing out a book sitting on the counter. "The latest installment in the _Ninjas of Love_ series. Very popular with young women your age."

Yang rolled her eyes. "How much?"

"Five hundred Lien."

Yang made a gesture of uncertainty, incidentally flexing the joints of her robotic hand. "I don't know… that seems a little high to me."

"…of course, for a regular customer such as yourself, a discount can be made." The old man smiled. "Shall we say, four hundred?"

"Done."

Leaving the shop, Yang tucked the book away; maybe Blake would be interested in it. _Yang's_ interest lay primarily in the piece of paper folded between the pages.

 _Basement of the Blue Carrot_ , the note read. _Nine in the morning, Thursday._

* * *

Ruby threw the first punch.

Fighting is very different when you have a Semblance that grants you speed. You move faster, strike faster, dodge faster—but you don't think faster. To make up for this, you must train until each motion flows into the next. A split-second decision must be enough to completely change tactics in the heat of battle, because a split second is all you will ever get.

Blake dodged under Ruby's fist. Ruby jumped, escaping the sweeping strike aimed at her feet. Immediately after landing, she turned, circling around to attack from an unexpected direction. Except that it didn't turn out to be unexpected. Her kick connected, but with a slightly dulled sensation that Ruby had learned to associate with hitting one of Blake's clones. Instinct took over as Ruby twisted away from Blake's retaliation.

During their first unarmed sparring session, Ruby had felt like she was a Boarbatusk in a fighting ring, and Blake the matador. The results were embarrassing to say the least. Ruby had extracted a promise from her teammate that nobody—definitely not Yang, and _especially_ not Weiss—would ever hear of the time that she used her Semblance to accelerate herself into a wall. The lack of a weapon had affected Ruby's movement more than she'd realized. Thankfully, she had improved since then.

Ruby took a punch to her stomach that knocked her back and left her breathless. She forced herself to keep moving. Her speed wouldn't help her if she stayed still, and in close quarters, Blake had the advantage. Ruby's only option was to stay at a distance, waiting for moments when Blake was off her guard to strike and then retreat.

This strategy, which Ruby was trying out for the first time, worked better than anything she'd attempted before. Most of the time, she still hit a clone or even just empty air, but she did get a couple of hits in. Blake and Ruby were now both breathing heavily, moving visibly slower than at the beginning of the fight.

Then one of the seeming gaps in Blake's defense turned out to be a feint. The Faunus split from her clone at the last possible instant, catching Ruby in her attack and throwing her to the floor in a single motion.

For a moment, Ruby just lay there, unable to summon the energy to move. Then: "Again!"

"Not just yet." Blake laughed softly. "You're not that bad anymore, you know. It takes some effort to keep up with you now."

"Well, thanks."

"Hey, you can't expect to master this stuff overnight. I remember a whole year of going to sleep with bruises for my Aura to heal, when…" Blake trailed off.

Ruby waited patiently.

"…When Adam was teaching me how to fight." Blake looked down.

"Oh." Ruby pushed herself to her feet. "S-so… how's all, the, um, surveying you've been doing lately?" _Wow, Ruby. Real smooth._

But Blake, surprisingly, cheered up. "Oh! I've been meaning to bring that up, actually. It's taken a while to be sure, but I think I've found something. I think the whole team needs to know about this."

Ruby tilted her head. "Let me get this straight. You picked the most boring mission rotation ever—running around with geologists while they draw maps—and managed to find out something we all urgently need to hear?"

"Well…" Blake hesitated. "Not urgent. Probably. But I think it's important. And weird."

"If you say so. Alright, I'll ask Weiss and Yang to stick around after dinner. We'll talk it over then."

"Thanks, Ruby. Hey… want to show me the latest toy you've found in the armory?"

Ruby grinned. "Thought you'd never ask." She picked up a bulky package she'd left by the entrance to the sparring room. "They called this one," she said as she unfolded the collapsible weapon, "Lava Teign."

With the heavy demands on her schedule, Ruby hadn't been able to work on putting together a replacement for Crescent Rose. As a temporary measure, she'd gotten permission to borrow from a stockpile of weapons donated by former Huntsmen. None of them really suited her… but Lava Teign came close.

"An axe?" Blake asked. "That's a first."

"Oh, it's not _just_ an axe." Ruby spun the weapon in a figure eight, holding it with both hands. "Want to see what else it does?"


	10. How to Burn Bridges

**How to Burn Bridges**

"Alright, team!"

Blake put down her fork and looked up at Ruby in surprise.

"Everyone pay attention!" Ruby proclaimed, making a grand gesture with her own fork. "Blake has something important to tell all of us."

"Um… Ruby?" Blake interrupted, hesitantly. "I would prefer to finish my meal first."

Ruby deflated. "Fine. Ruin all my fun, why don't you."

Blake returned to her pasta. She was nearly able to finish her meal in peace before she was interrupted once again, this time by her impatient partner.

"Alright, Blake; you've been holding us in suspense long enough," Yang said. "What's the big secret?"

Blake sighed and set her plate aside. She took out and unfolded a large print-out across the table, revealing a detailed map of the area around New Hope. Her three teammates leaned in to take a closer look.

"What you're looking at is the combined result of a month's worth of survey expeditions. These were primarily focused on locating and mapping out Dust crystal veins below the ground, to aid in future mining efforts. The location and size of the veins is marked by the orange diamonds."

Yang voiced what they were all thinking. "That's… even more Dust than I expected."

"That's the first of three surprises I have to share with you," Blake agreed. "Preliminary versions of this data have been sent to Dust mining companies; they all agree that such density is unprecedented. Nobody ever expected to find anything like this."

Blake took out her scroll and began paging through the documents stored on it. "Almost nobody, that is. Which brings us to the second surprise." Having found the file she wanted, she pushed the "project" button, super-imposing a second image on top of the map.

Ruby was the first to recognize it. "Blake… is that what I think it is?"

Blake smiled. "This is a scan of one of the pages from Headmaster Ozpin's notes. The very same ones that Ironwood showed us before the Lotan mission a month ago." Blake hesitated, then continued. "The general might not be exactly aware that anyone has a copy of these notes."

"Blake!" Weiss exclaimed.

Blake turned her head to study her teammate. _Weiss has changed a lot in the past few years_. When they first met, the Schnee heiress might have meant, by such an exclamation, 'Blake! How dare you steal from one of the most respected men in all of Remnant!' But now, Blake could hear the concern in Weiss's voice. She meant, 'Blake! What if you had gotten caught!?'

"Don't worry," Blake replied. "I was careful. Nobody knows I was even there."

"Ignoring the issue of my partner's skullduggery," Yang interrupted, "what's up with the map?"

Ruby looked over at her sister in surprise. "Skullduggery, Yang? Where do you even pick up words like that?"

"Hey, I read! In and out of bookstores all the time, lately, as a matter of fact. That reminds me… but no, later." Yang crossed her arms. "Blake. Map. Explain."

"The interesting coincidence," Blake replied, "is that the darker lines on the projection precisely trace out the Dust veins found by the survey." Blake sighed. "Someone's been keeping secrets."

Yang caught on first. "If Ironwood's had the second map all along, then he knew about the Dust deposits when he sent us on the mission. The stockpile was just an excuse."

Weiss was more hesitant. "This doesn't mean—he might not have understood the significance of the map in Ozpin's notes."

"It's true," Blake agreed. "The notes are actually incredibly unhelpful. It's hard to tell, because Ozpin's handwriting is so terrible, but I'm pretty sure the map doesn't even have a legend. Then again, he was probably only writing the notes for his own use."

"This does help explain some other things," Weiss admitted. "The explosion of the stockpile had always seemed a bit too convenient to me. Less Dust, and it wouldn't have revealed the underground vein. Much more, and it would've set off the crystals themselves—likely to ruin the entire region for Dust mining."

Yang nodded. "So you think Ironwood was counting on the stockpile blowing up all along?"

"If not him, then Ozpin. He _had_ to have understood all the implications of the map."

"Blake," Ruby spoke up. "You mentioned three surprises. What was the third?"

"This map from Ozpin's notes," Blake replied, "is only one page of a larger atlas." She touched her scroll, and the projection changed. "The notes include a map of all of Lotan."

With a little imagination, the continent looked like a giant winged monster. Lines that resembled blood vessels filled its interior, enhancing the similarity.

"And given our interpretation of the local map," Blake continued, "the continent is riddled with Dust."

* * *

The conversation continued late into the night. Ruby stayed out of it for the most part, contributing only a few comments here and there. Blake's discovery seemed game-changing, and yet she wasn't sure what to make of it.

When the time approached midnight, Ruby regretfully realized that she couldn't stay longer. Slinging her weapon over her back, she stood up and headed for the door.

"A bit late to be heading out," Yang commented. "Let me guess—it's the ducklings again?"

"Can't let them get complacent," shrugged Ruby in response. She took out her scroll and activated voice input. "Sound alarm; south gate."

"It took only a few seconds for Weiss, Blake, and Yang to get alerts on their own scrolls, which they dismissed. Blake looked up at Ruby. "Making them run for it?"

"I'm being perfectly fair," Ruby denied. "They have exactly as long to get there as I do."

"You know, Blake," said Weiss thoughtfully, "sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a partner who realizes that not everyone has her Semblance."

"Trade you for a partner that doesn't set things on fire," Blake replied immediately.

"I would never!" Yang said indignantly. "Besides, you're forgetting about all the times Ruby's tried to bake cookies."

"That never—I mean, I—" unable to come up with a convincing response, Ruby decided it was time to leave. A second later, the door to the apartment was left swinging open in her wake.

The reason for the late-night excursion was simple. Though New Hope had four teams of Huntsmen permanently stationed to protect it from Grimm, only Team RWBY had much in the way of experience. In fact, Ruby suspected—she hadn't asked—that the three other teams came straight out of Atlas Academy. She didn't blame Ironwood; with all of Vale to defend in addition to Atlas, his forces were stretched pretty thin. This didn't change the fact that none of the recent graduates were remotely prepared to face the kind of Grimm one found in Lotan.

Weiss was in command of all the Huntsmen of New Hope, but between dealing with ludicrous amounts of paperwork, it was all she could do to manage the mission roster. Ruby did her part in making sure the town was protected from Grimm by working to get the other Huntsmen up to scratch.

It meant getting herself up to scratch, too, reflected Ruby, collapsing against the wall by the south gate. Making it all the way across town at speed was barely possible for her a month ago. Even now, the run took a lot out of her. That wasn't good enough: the point, after all, was to show up and immediately be able to fight Grimm.

For now, though, Ruby could relax: it would be a few minutes before any of the "ducklings" would arrive. Ruby smiled at Yang's name for the less experienced Huntsmen. It was apt, though; they all treated Ruby and her teammates with awe and respect, having heard about their role in the Second Battle of Beacon, and rather tended to follow them around. It made it easier to train them, when they hung on her every word.

The first two teams arrived at more or less the same time. Seeing Ruby at the gates, they saluted and stood at attention. Ruby checked the time on her scroll. Fifteen minutes; not a bad response time.

A faint sound coming from the air made Ruby look up. What she saw made her raise her eyebrows in surprise.

Ruby approached one of the ducklings. "Huntsman Schwarz," she began, with the formality that set the Atlas types at ease. "May I borrow your spear?"

"Yes, certainly, ma'am!" The boy—well, actually, he was probably older than Ruby, wasn't he?—flipped his weapon around and handed it to Ruby.

Taking the spear, Ruby took a running jump onto the top of the wall. Choosing her position carefully, she held the spear out over the outer edge of the wall and waited.

A few seconds later, the last team made its arrival known… falling from the sky with half-thrilled, half-panicked yells. Three of them made their entrances as expected, landing on the ground just outside the wall. The fourth—Katerina Argyros, their team leader—found herself hanging by one sleeve, the fabric caught on the blade of the spear in Ruby's hands.

Ruby smiled at the girl, who gulped nervously. Her teammates, unable to locate her on the ground, finally looked up.

"Huntress Argyros, you are to be commended on an inspired response to the alarm," said Ruby. "Not many would have thought of using the catapults in this way. Would you care to identify your primary mistake?"

"Our landing strategies were—" Katerina began.

"—planned out perfectly, I'm sure," Ruby interrupted. "In the event that the alarm was not a drill, however, _where exactly_ would you have been landing?

The girl looked down. One of her teammates gave her a thumbs-up. Hah. Ruby liked that one.

"The answer is: in the middle of a pack of riled-up Grimm."

"We would have handled them!"

"New Hope has _four_ teams of Huntsmen protecting it! This is not because General Ironwood doesn't know what to do with us. It's because that's how many we need."

 _Actually, it's because we really could use twice as many._

"Nine times out of ten, you'd make it out fine," Ruby admitted. "That's not good enough. There are always more Grimm out there. You need to outlast them _ten_ times out of ten. That means waiting for backup."

Ruby lowered the spear, letting the girl hanging from its end fall, and tossed the weapon over her shoulder without looking. Then she jumped over the edge of the wall herself, landing softly just outside the gate. She waved at the two teams still inside to come out and join her.

"Now, everyone," she continued once they were all re-assembled, "I didn't sound the alarm just to get you all out of bed. Scouts have found another Needlemaw nest in the hills. I think it's a great opportunity for all twelve of you to get some practice in."

* * *

"Got an arrest to make," said Yang the moment she rolled out of bed. "Blake, want to come along?"

The Faunus looked up at her over the cover of _Ninjas of Love VI: Kohaku's Betrayal_. "I suppose someone has to keep you out of trouble." Yang easily translated this as 'Thank you, I've been wondering what to do with myself now that I'm done with my latest project, but I felt awkward asking.'

"Sounds good. Doubt these guys'll pose a threat, but backup couldn't hurt. Be ready in five minutes, we're on a tight schedule."

Yang raced through her morning routine. By half past nine, she was already walking down the street with Blake. They had a bit of a walk ahead of them. Yang missed her bike, but there wasn't a street in New Hope where she could leave it and expect it to be there five minutes later.

Their destination, the Blue Carrot Bar, was all but deserted at this time of the day. However, when Yang tried the door, she found that it was open. She walked in, looking around with curiosity at the dimly lit interior.

The Blue Carrot was the closest that New Hope got to 'classy'. In practice, this meant that the floor was clean, and that some of the tables were covered by tablecloths. Even at an hour when customers were not expected, soft music was playing. A giant blue carrot was suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the room, adding a touch of the ridiculous to the room.

A muscled man in a dark blue suit was standing at the bar, polishing glasses. He looked up as Yang and Blake walked in. "Sorry, ladies," he said. "Bar is closed until the evening. Private event."

Yang made a show of looking around. "Yeah. I can see the place is packed."

"I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave," the man insisted.

"Yeah, not happening. How about you introduce us to your friends downstairs?"

The man growled. Setting down the glass in his hands, he vaulted over the bar, a heavy bat held in one hand. "Look, I don't know what you heard, but we don't want any trouble here. Leave. Now."

Blake's hand moved too quickly for the eye to follow. In one fluid motion, she threw Gambol Shroud at the man. Its ribbon settled over him in several loops, which were quickly pulled tight as the blade flew past him and stabbed into the wooden wall. Before the man could react, he found himself pinned to the bar, his arms bound uselessly to his sides.

"Wow… nice work, Blake," was all Yang could say. "But I figure he wouldn't have been so brave if he hadn't gotten a signal to his buddies first thing. I'll head downstairs; stay here and make sure no one leaves if they get past me."

Yang quickly located a trapdoor behind the bar; lifting it open, she dropped down without hesitation. When she landed, she found herself surrounded by silent yet agitated activity.

About a dozen people were bustling around the basement, trying to hide the evidence of their illicit activity: wooden crates no doubt packed with Dust crystals. Yang's arrival did not go unnoticed. The smugglers exchanged a few glances, then all of them attacked Yang at once.

The first to approach folded over with a groan as Yang punched him in the gut. Lifting him up in front of her, Yang charged the two goons that followed. She heaved her improvised weapon at them, and watched in satisfaction as all three collapsed to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

None of the smugglers were trained Huntsmen; Yang doubted that any of them even had an unlocked Aura. As a result, the fight was over almost before it started. Less than a minute passed before the smugglers all lay scattered across the dirt floor of the basement, unconscious.

Yang searched the room, trying to figure out the operation. Were they smuggling the Dust in with shipments of food and alcohol, then using the basement to pack the crystals in crates for shipping? That didn't sound right.

Then, lifting up one of the crates, Yang discovered a narrow shaft leading down. She cursed under her breath. _That_ was going to be trouble.

Yang raced up to the bar. "Blake, I need your help—quickly. They were lifting Dust from the mines through a shaft in the basement, which means that they had agents on the inside. A corrupt foreman, at least; this couldn't have gone unnoticed otherwise. I need you to run down to the mines and track them down before it's covered up.

Blake nodded. "On it. You're staying to secure the thugs in the basement?" Taking only a moment to retrieve her weapon, Blake left.

Yang had spotted some rope in a corner of the basement, and it didn't take long for her to get all the smugglers tied up. Locking the trapdoor, Yang headed off to the military headquarters: the only place that could hold the criminals until they could be transferred to a real prison in Atlas.

Five minutes out, however, she encountered a surprise.

The door to the bookstore Yang had visited the previous day was busted open. Two Atlesian soldiers were leading its owner out, his hands pinned behind his back. Half a dozen more were standing in the street, shooing off passersby and generally being intimidating.

Yang approached the commander. "What do you think you're doing?"

The man turned around. "Huntress Xiao Long," he greeted her, coldly.

Yang recognized him. "Captain Johannes Slate. Release this man. He—"

"He is a knowing collaborator with at least three terrorist organizations, just from the evidence we've managed to uncover so far. I don't know what interest a Huntress has in him, but I will not allow criminals to walk free in _my_ town."

Yang glared at him. Slate met her eyes and glared back.

Even if she got Weiss to lean on Slate, Yang realized, she couldn't accomplish much. Word of this arrest would get out. Not only would the old man be useless as a contact, but he'd probably be dead within a day, from some criminal group wanting to 'tie up loose ends'.

"Fine," she snapped. "While you're at it, have some of your men go do something useful, and send them down to the Blue Carrot. There's a gang of smugglers tied up in the basement. You know, the people it's _actually_ your job to go after."

Yang stalked off, only dimly aware of Captain Slate barking out orders at his men.


	11. How to Get Away with Murder

**How to Get Away with Murder**

A wide, solidly built metal walkway spanned the crater in the middle of New Hope. Through the mesh of its steel floor, Blake had a bird's eye view of the mining operation. Workers entering and exiting the three main tunnels of the mine resembled ants from this height. _You know, despite all talk of equality, four in five of the miners are Faunus. And why is that?_ Blake shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on that statistic.

The workers, Human and Faunus alike, came to New Hope from all four kingdoms because they were poor and desperate. Nobody with a stable job and a place in life would jump at the chance to work long hours in a frontier town in the middle of an otherwise uninhabited continent. Such workers were needed for New Hope to flourish, but they were not trusted. So the infrastructure of the mine, impressive as it looked, served one goal only: to guarantee near-absolute security against theft.

Along with several dozen others, Blake stepped into the massive cargo elevator which stopped at the center of the walkway. The elevator was the only way to get in and out of the crater, unless one could fly. Despite running non-stop around the clock, the elevator was a bottleneck to traffic that required complex timetables and careful planning to deal with. The advantage of being able to inspect anyone leaving the mine was considered worth it.

It was almost too easy, Blake reflected as she looked out of the elevator's window. The smugglers' man on the inside was trapped in the crater, with no way to run. No way to hide, either: the list of people with the clearance needed to conceal an unauthorized shaft to the Blue Carrot's basement would be short. Blake would question each one of them if she had to.

There was some sort of commotion on the ground below. A small crowd of people had gathered to watch a heated argument: a large man, gesturing wildly, berated his short and scruffy subordinate. Shaking the poor man's shoulder, he pointed into the tunnel. Blake couldn't hear his words, but she imagined him yelling, "Stop wasting time and get back to work!".

The short man, his head bowed, appeared ready to concede. Suddenly, he turned and struck out at his boss, who collapsed to the ground, bleeding. In the short miner's hands were two hook-like weapons, one covered in blood. The crowd of onlookers was frozen in shock; before any of them could react, the man began running up the side of the crater. When the ascent became too steep, he switched to a climb, driving the hooks into the rock walls to provide himself with handholds.

Blake cursed. She had been too complacent. _Of course_ the smuggler would have an escape plan ready! Now she was stuck in the elevator, watching helplessly as her target escaped—

—No. She wasn't. "Stand back!" Blake yelled as she struck the elevator's window with the blunt edge of Gambol Shroud's sheath. The glass shattered into tiny pieces. In a single, fluid motion, Blake jumped from the elevator and fired off her grappling hook at the walkway above. She kicked off to turn her fall into a swing. At the high point of its arc, she launched herself into the air.

The smuggler had just finished his ascent and was looking back into the crater with satisfaction. He barely had a moment to react before Blake slammed into him feet-first, knocking the man onto his back. Despite the shock, one of his hooks came up to counter the swing of Blake's weapon only a split second later. When Blake fired off a shot from the pistol built into Gambol Shroud's hilt, an almost imperceptible flick of the other hook deflected the bullet. _He's had Huntsman training_ , Blake realized.

The man was good, but Blake had managed to put him on the defensive from the start. Not about to lose this advantage, she continued her assault with quick, relentless strikes of her katana. The smuggler managed to scramble to his feet, but the resulting lapse in his focus let Blake score her first hit: a shallow slash to his chest. He cried out, more in shock than in pain, and Blake took advantage of the moment to knock away the hook in his right hand. Within seconds, she finished the job, disarming the man completely. _Good, we need him alive; he's clearly the one in charge of the smuggling operation._

Blake pressed the tip of Gambol Shroud's blade to the man's throat. "We're done here," she told him. "If you want to live, surrender and come along quietly. We have some questions for you."

The man opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. His hand went to his stomach and he collapsed to the ground. Blake remained wary for a second, expecting a trick, but then saw the blood soaking through the smuggler's shirt.

 _That's not good. I had only meant to give him a small cut, not this…_ Blake knelt down and peeled off the man's shirt to inspect the wound. It was a deep slash across his gut.

Blake tried to put pressure on the wound, but she could tell that the wounded man was going into shock. He'd be dead in minutes—not nearly enough time for medical aid to arrive.

Somehow Blake doubted that this was what Yang had in mind.

* * *

Request for fifty more mission-hours of Huntsman convoys to protect biologists studying the "unique flora and fauna that we are privileged to have access to here in Lotan". Appeal for looser purchase regulations on personal weapons. Report of an altercation between two Huntresses and a squad of Atlesian soldiers—updated threat assessment of the local Grimm, with a forecast of likely intervals between attacks—complaint about an increase in equipment maintenance costs—

With a frustrated cry, Weiss dropped the latest form letter into the finished stack and glared at the much larger pile of papers still left to deal with. She threw the pen she was holding at the wall opposite her desk and was taken aback when it went right through the cheap material, leaving a jagged hole. Weiss took a deep breath.

Resolving to take a break for no more than five minutes, Weiss stood up and approached the window to look outside. The view didn't help her relax. A week ago, the scenery outside her office was relaxing and peaceful, but today it disappointed her. The trees and shrubbery had been cleared out to make room for new construction. As she watched, two Bullhead jets lowered a prefabricated warehouse unit onto a concrete foundation. Despite all care, as the unit touched down, one of its walls buckled and snapped. A crew of construction workers swarmed onto the scene, trying to mitigate the damage.

Weiss sighed. The prefabs were, of course, the only reason that New Hope had expanded so quickly. In fact, just about the only part of the town that was built entirely on-site was the wall around it: when it came to defenses from the Grimm, one couldn't cut corners. But supply couldn't keep up with demand, and so the building contracts were going to any manufacturer that could supply a box with walls and a roof. Anything was better, Weiss supposed, than the tents still housing nearly a third of the town's population.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from her scroll, alerting her to an incoming call. Weiss returned to her desk and answered it. For several seconds, no image appeared, and Weiss realized that the call was coming from another continent. Eventually, the signal reached her, and she was greeted by the perpetually-frowning face of General Ironwood's secretary.

"Huntress Schnee," she began, "I am calling in regard to an incident reported from General Ironwood's office in Lotan."

So something that happened in the New Hope office that the general rarely visited was reported to his secretary in Atlas, and was now being bounced back to Weiss to deal with. Figured. "What sort of incident?"

"Upon reviewing camera footage, local security found evidence of a break-in that occurred three days ago. An unauthorized person entered General Ironwood's office. We have not yet contacted the general, so we cannot be certain if anything is missing."

Weiss could only think of one person that might have broken into Ironwood's office in New Hope three days ago. _Dammit, Blake! You said that you'd been careful!_

Thinking quickly, Weiss smiled an unpleasant little smile at the secretary. Her first fencing teacher wore this smile whenever he compared Weiss to her sister, and it was guaranteed to be confidence-breaking. "General Ironwood will _not_ be pleased." Weiss paused, ostensibly for effect, while she tried to come up with something to say. "He expected at most a day before this information would have been reported."

The secretary paled. "Are you saying… that this was some sort of test?"

 _Good, she bought it. Now to convince her to say nothing to Ironwood. Blake, you owe me for this one._

"Indeed. Furthermore, since an anonymous warning was sent to your office the day _before_ the security test, I am curious to hear your explanation of why you're only calling me _now_."

The secretary struggled to find a reply.

"General Ironwood will be visiting New Hope in four days," Weiss continued. _Convenient, that._ "I suggest that before I give my report to him, you find a way to convince me that your security procedures will not be so lax in the event of a real break-in."

Without waiting for a response, Weiss disconnected from the call, and breathed a sigh of the relief. She didn't have a good measure of the secretary's character, and wasn't sure how the woman would take this. She might now be struggling to find the missing 'anonymous warning', or she might have taken Weiss's last words as a signal that Weiss was open to accepting a bribe to keep things quiet. Either way, it was unlikely that she'd make a report to Ironwood herself.

Weiss was getting ready to return to her paperwork when her scroll interrupted her again—this time with the sound of a Grimm alarm.

* * *

Ruby was running across town with the aid of her Semblance for the second time in as many days.

She was grateful for the lack of a siren sounding the Grimm alarm for all of New Hope to hear. Such things were reserved for large, well-established settlements in which Grimm attacks were rare. In a frontier town, it was expected that the Grimm would come, and it was considered ill-advised to let the civilian population known how much danger they were in. Panic, after all, only brought more Grimm.

Unsurprisingly, Ruby was the first to reach the outpost at New Hope's west gate. She immediately climbed the watchtower, refusing to pause even to catch her breath. Inspecting the weapon stand she found there, Ruby picked out a sniper rifle. Lava Teign was not designed for fighting at long range, so she had to make do with standard-issue weapons until she finally found the time to work on one of her own.

Ruby looked out at the wilderness surrounding New Hope. It took her only a few seconds to spot a disturbance in the trees: the sign of a large group of Grimm approaching. Ruby tracked the movement through the scope of the sniper rifle, and was rewarded with a glimpse of vicious-looking red claws. _Looks like it's Needlemaws again, then._

Soon after, the first of the lizard Grimm left the safety of the forest. Ruby greeted it with a bullet between the eyes. The same fate awaited the next few Grimm to emerge from the trees; Ruby hoped that some of their kin would take notice and retreat. The Grimm could feel the emotions of every Human and Faunus in New Hope; they swarmed from all directions, attracted by the taste of fear. But, by the same token, they could be taught to fear as well!

For now, though, nothing would stop the Needlemaws from charging. Soon, enough of them had gathered out in the open that Ruby almost felt like she didn't have to aim her rifle at all; the ground was a moving carpet of ashen scales and red claws. Ruby frowned. _Now would be a really good time for—_

Then the horde of attacking Grimm was met with a rain of multi-colored explosions: the other Huntsmen had finally arrived to join the defense. A flock of Weiss's Nevermores attacked from the air, tearing into the lizard Grimm.

Ruby waited until the thinned-out horde had nearly reached the wall. Then she gave the signal to attack. Ruby herself was the first to jump from the fortifications into battle. She fell with her axe aimed at the ground below. _Alright, Lava Teign. The Huntsman who forged you is long gone, but you can still fight. Show them what you can do!_

Then she landed, and the world was fire.

Weapons like Lava Teign weren't popular these days; too much collateral damage, not conservative enough with Dust use. Here and now, those drawbacks suited Ruby just fine. She lifted the axe again, and swung it around in a way that would have been frankly suicidal for just about anyone else. For her—well, she'd based her fighting style with Crescent Rose on getting jerked around by its recoil. The weight of the axe, and the shock waves from the explosions it made with every impact, were new and yet familiar.

Ruby didn't need her scroll to tell her how Lava Teign's fire was eating away at her Aura with every second. She just didn't care. She slashed and stabbed and exploded, moving too quickly for the Grimm to touch her, and used her Semblance to make sure that she spent each of those precious seconds surrounded by more Grimm for her to kill.

Some time later, she raised her axe, and there were no more Grimm to fight.


	12. How to Change Hearts and Minds

**How to Change Hearts and Minds**

Weiss was falling from the sky. She knew that she should be using her glyphs to slow her fall, but she couldn't feel her limbs, so she just kept falling. The giant Needlemaw below her opened its mouth and breathed out white fire. It filled her entire field of vision and she could feel its heat on her face and she was still falling…

Weiss woke with a start. She was lying in a hospital bed; after five years of being a Huntress, this was not an unfamiliar occurrence. The sun was shining in her eyes.

"Weiss! You're awake! Finally! OkayholdonletmegogetBlakeandYang—"

That part was also familiar, although Weiss could have done without the rose petal that landed on her nose. She'd never been able to get a straight answer from Ruby about why, exactly, her Semblance conjured these out of thin air. Clumsily wriggling a hand out from under the sheets, she swiped at her face and eventually managed to dislodge it. Good. It had been making her nose itch.

The door to the hospital room opened and closed. "Good day, Miss Schnee," an unfamiliar voice said. "I have been informed by the staff that you are finally awake."

Weiss couldn't see the speaker, and had no guesses as to who he was. She tried turning her head, but felt a neck brace stopping her. Well. If she had one of those on, then whatever had happened the day before must have been even more exciting than usual. By now, though, Weiss's Aura had probably healed the injury.

"Can't see you," Weiss said as she tried to get the neck brace off. Her voice came out unexpectedly raspy.

The man laughed. "Sorry about that. I'm Johannes Slate, your counterpart in the branch of our military that doesn't have superpowers. Here, let me help you with that." Two hands and a face appeared in Weiss's field of vision, and then the neck brace was neatly removed.

Weiss turned her head to look at the captain. "What are you doing here?" Wait, that didn't come out right. She must still be out of it. _A young lady must speak and act with decorum at all times,_ she remembered Winter saying. Weiss wasn't sure if she still counted as a young lady at twenty-three, but presumably the principle was still sound. "I'm sorry, I mean—what is the occasion of your visit?"

"I've come to say… I believe I owe you an apology," Slate said somberly. "It seemed easy to dismiss you as a child with no experience. Although that doesn't excuse my attitude to you and your team. After yesterday's Grimm encounter, though, it seems abundantly clear that you more than deserve your position."

 _Well, that's nice of him._ "Thank you," Weiss replied. She was really regretting, now, that she still couldn't remember the battle or the circumstances of her injury.

The door to the room opened again. "Weiss, you—" began Ruby as she returned with Blake and Yang in tow, cutting herself off after noticing Slate.

"I'm sorry, Miss Schnee, I shouldn't impose on your time any longer. I wish you a speedy recovery." Slate gave her a respectful nod and left the room.

"Wait, so what was Captain Jerk-hannes doing here?" asked Yang as soon as the door closed.

"Apparently, apologizing," said Weiss doubtfully.

"Never mind that, how are you feeling, Weiss?" Ruby returned to the seat beside Weiss's bed that she'd been occupying earlier.

"Fine, I think. Still rather out of it."

"The doctor did say that your Aura's been nearly depleted from healing your injuries," Blake said. "She wants to keep you in bed for at least another day to let it recover to a healthier level."

"Also, I don't remember anything that happened."

Yang snickered. "Well, you _were_ rather wild…"

"Don't listen to her, Weiss," Ruby interrupted, "you were awesome! There was a horde of Needlemaws charging the wall—"

"Does this story involve you doing something stupidly heroic that I have to rescue you from?" Weiss wondered.

"What, is it ringing a bell?" asked Blake.

"Not at all," said Weiss dryly. "I'm merely extrapolating from what I remember of every other Grimm fight ever."

Ruby cleared her throat. "Yes, well, anyway, I jumped over the wall and started blowing the lizards up—"

"Which," Yang added, "predictably got the entire horde of Grimm to focus on the tiny Huntress with the big axe."

"I'm not tiny and you're interrupting!"

"Why are you telling this story if you didn't even notice any of this happening until all the Grimm were dead?"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Excuse me, injured Huntress on the brink of death here. Story, please?"

Since the two sisters were still glaring at each other, Blake picked up the story. "We thought Ruby was done for. But then out of nowhere comes a _storm_ of glowing white Nevermores—"

"Murder," Weiss corrected. Everyone looked at her. "I mean, that's the collective noun: many Nevermores are a murder."

"Does that still count if they're white and glowing?" asked Yang. "That might make them more like a blizzard."

Weiss sighed. "Also, I can't help but notice that at no point does this story involve me doing anything dangerous that would land me in a hospital, or even leaving my position on the wall."

Yang and Blake looked at each other guiltily.

"The way I heard it," Ruby added helpfully, "it was only after the battle was over—though, to be honest, that couldn't have been more than five minutes—that you were found. Apparently, your teammates missed you falling off the wall, unconscious from the strain of the summoning. When they found you, you were being chewed on by a pair of stray Needlemaws."

Weiss looked at Yang and Blake, who were hesitant to meet her eye.

"By the way, can't you do something about that? I know Winter never got herself knocked out after summoning…" Ruby trailed off after Weiss turned to look at her. "Right, shutting up now."

Weiss sighed. "I need rest. I still can't wiggle my toes. Everyone, out, I'm going back to sleep."

* * *

Yang led the way in tiptoeing out of the room.

Outside the hospital, Ruby turned and held up her hands in an I-have-an-announcement gesture. "Alright, Team arb… urb… RBY! The loss of our truest companion hangs heavy on all our hearts. But Weiss would not want her sacrifice to be in vain. Even in her absence, we must persevere with the plan, unrelenting as Ursai…"

Ruby's pause for breath took a bit longer than expected. Yang exchanged a look with Blake, then spoke up. "You don't actually have a plan, do you."

Ruby slumped. "Not as such, no."

"We're at a dead end in the smuggling investigation," Blake remarked. "We know how the Dust was leaving the mines, but not how it was being transported out of Lotan. None of the smugglers we captured know anything, which means there's more of them out there. They've suffered a temporary setback, but that's all, and we have no leads on them."

"That's not a very uplifting summary, Blake," accused Ruby.

Yang hesitated. Was now the time? Yes, she decided, it was. Not because they couldn't make any headway otherwise… but because a Ruby who got it into her head that they needed to Do Something was a Ruby who would tear New Hope apart until they Did Something.

"I might have a lead," Yang volunteered. "An old friend that I've avoided being seen with so far. I'd bet my other hand he knows something."

"Thanks, sis!" Ruby smiled sweetly. "I knew we could count on you."

Yang gave Ruby a suspicious look, wondering if she'd just been neatly manipulated by her little sister. "If you two decide to come along, follow my lead," she warned. "I've done this sort of thing before, so I know how to get him to talk."

"You got it, boss," Blake agreed. Ruby nodded her assent.

"Alright, then follow me." Yang led the others around the Teardrop to the very center of the commercial district, such as it was. She'd never been to the club before, but had made a point of knowing exactly where it was. The building wasn't much to look at from the outside, though it was clearly not as shoddily built as most others. Inside, they were greeted by loud music, bright lights, and holographic decorations.

The owner of the club looked up as soon as Yang and her teammates entered. As they approached, he gave a long-suffering sigh that Yang chose to ignore. "Hey, Hei!" she greeted him brightly. She'd been _saving_ that one.

"Funny," said Junior flatly. "I didn't expect for you to have a reason to show up to my new club."

"Miss me?"

"It would've been better if you didn't show up. People in some circles, they wouldn't want me talking to you at all, Blondie."

"You wanted to avoid me, you shouldn't have moved house to New Hope."

"Business is booming here. I left the old place with my brothers. This club will pay for itself in another month."

Yang sat down at the bar. "Get me a drink, would you? Strawberry sunrise. No ice—"

"And an umbrella, right." Junior walked around the bar and started to mix the drink himself. "So what do you _want_?"

"Oh, can I have what she's having, please?" Ruby piped up. Yang glared at her. Ruby grinned sheepishly.

"Let's say," Yang began, "that some friends of yours wanted to transport something out of Lotan without anyone looking too closely at what they're shipping. Where, hypothetically, might such friends have set up shop?"

"They're no friends of mine," Junior replied automatically."I wouldn't—" he cut himself off, realizing that he'd said too much.

"Great! Then you won't have any trouble letting us know where to find them, will you?"

Junior glared at her, saying nothing. Yang mentally calculated the best time for her to casually flex her robotic hand.

"You owe us," Blake spoke up.

Yang and Junior both looked at her in surprise.

"If it weren't for us clearing out Beacon, you wouldn't have the money to start a new club here," Blake continued. "I doubt you'd still have the old one, even. So you're going to help us, because it's the right thing to do."

Yang held her breath. Junior continued looking at Blake, who met his stare. He looked away first.

"Don't owe you anything," he finally said. "But if you check out the lee side of Haigha's Hill west of town, you might find something." He crossed his arms.

Blake smiled. "Thank you. We'll look into it." She stood up and turned to leave.

Yang followed Blake out, leaving her drink untouched. _Huh. People. Never really know them._ She wasn't sure if she meant Junior or Blake.

* * *

Located several miles outside town, the outpost at Haigha's Hill was a rare remnant of the abandoned settlement that preceded New Hope.

Back when the outpost was built, it had probably functioned as the first line of defense from the Grimm, as well as a base for the local equivalent of Huntsmen. From a watchtower on the top of the hill, the landscape would have been visible for miles around. That watchtower now lay in ruins, but some buildings at the base of the hill had survived both decades of abandonment and the devastation of last month's explosion.

A Bullhead loaded with Dust could easily take off and land there without being visible from town, hidden behind the hill. It was, in retrospect, the ideal site for a smuggler base. Equally convenient, no doubt, was the fact that a lookout on the hill would spot anyone approaching from town well in advance.

"Unless we attack at night," Blake had suggested when this concern was brought up. "The three of us will be more than enough to take them all, especially if they don't see us coming."

Ruby had approved the idea, and had put Blake in charge of the operation. Taking this responsibility seriously, Blake had decided that extra caution wouldn't hurt. Despite Yang's grumbles, they approached Haigha's Hill on foot.

Once they were within a few hundred feet of the hill, Blake signaled them to come to a stop. "Stay here," she whispered to Yang and Ruby. "I'll scout ahead and see if they've got a sentry posted. Wait until I give the all-clear."

Making a roundabout ascent up the hill, Blake saw movement and froze. She'd been right: someone was up there. Staying very still, Blake eventually saw the man: a rabbit Faunus pacing the perimeter of the ruined watchtower, checking the surroundings for danger. He'd probably be more concerned about Grimm, but he'd hear her if she approached too close, and put the entire hideout on alert.

 _Take advantage of the terrain, Blake, but don't forget to take advantage of the opponent._ Remembering Adam's lessons always brought mixed emotions, but she couldn't afford to get distracted right now. _Make him think that you've made a mistake, and he'll return the favor._

After circling around to get into a better position, Blake deliberately made a misstep, letting a twig snap loudly under her foot. This was the tricky part. If the lookout thought that Blake was sneaking up on him, he'd call an alarm. But what if he thought Blake had overlooked him entirely?

The rabbit Faunus took the bait. Grinning maliciously, he left his post to take down the foolish intruder. He pulled out his gun and took careful aim…

Blake hit the back of the man's head with the flat of her weapon's sheath while he was distracted with her clone. That had gone as smoothly as it could have. She sent off a scroll message to let Ruby and Yang know that the job was done. They'd rendezvous halfway down the hill.

That's when things started going wrong. The three of them were still making their way down to the outpost when they heard shouting. Somehow, they must have been noticed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Blake saw Ruby taking aim with a rifle. _Good call, probably._ A man ran out of one of the buildings, yelling; Ruby fired once, and he collapsed to the ground. Stealth was out of the question now, and Blake led the way in a run to reach the building as quickly as possible. She was the first to enter.

The interior of this part of the outpost had been converted into a loading bay, and housed a single Bullhead. Blake had no time to look around, however; an attacker jumped out from behind the door to take her down.

Reacting on instinct, Blake struck out with Gambol Shroud. Her assailant dodged, impossibly, and the blade flew past; a cry from the shadows, however, suggested that she had hit another target. Blake pulled on Gambol Shroud's ribbon, and the weapon snapped back to her hand.

Shots were fired. Blake dodged most and deflected the rest, firing once or twice with her pistol. A second later, Ruby dashed in through the air, trailing rose petals.

"Hold fire!" a familiar voice shouted. The fighting stopped. Blake lowered her weapon. Someone hit a switch, and the loading bay was flooded with light.

"Huntresses Rose, Belladonna, and Xiao Long," James Ironwood continued, "you are interfering with an Atlesian military operation. Explain yourselves."

Looking around, Blake saw several wounded soldiers on the floor. There were no smugglers to be seen.


	13. How to Trick the Eye

**How to Trick the Eye**

Yang saw the general as though through a shimmering haze. "It was you! You've been working with the smugglers all along!"

For several seconds, the room was absolutely silent. General James Ironwood blinked.

"I am here," he eventually said, "following up on a lead in the investigation of recent smuggling activity. Moments after my men and I entered the building, we were attacked. It was only after I recognized the use of such a unique Semblance that I called for a stop to the fighting."

Yang frowned. "Unique Semblance?"

Ruby looked at her in disbelief. "Um, Yang," she said, "you're kind of on fire."

 _Oh._ Yang unclenched her fist, and the flames around her receded. She must have been more on edge than she thought.

"Given that nobody _else_ is present at what is clearly a smuggler hideout," the general continued, "you can imagine that I am very curious to hear an explanation for your presence here."

"We were—" Yang began, at the same time as Blake started to say something. They were both interrupted by a loud metallic sound from inside the Bullhead.

Both sides of the stand-off aimed their weapons at the hatch of the tiltjet. When it opened, Yang breathed out in a mix of shock and relief at the figure standing there.

"Qrow," Ironwood sighed. "You have a talent for showing up exactly when it would annoy me most. Don't tell me _you're_ responsible for this mess."

"I'm really not," Yang's uncle said, flippantly. "Just hitching a ride, so to speak. _Much_ easier than getting an entrance visa from your bureaucrats, Jimmy."

"I'm sure." The general seemed at a loss for words.

"There _was_ at least one smuggler here," Blake suggested. "I took down a sentry on the hill as we approached. He was only knocked out; you could question him, if you still think we're responsible for all this."

Ironwood did not look happy with the idea, but grudgingly nodded. "Show me where to find him. Men, stay put and don't let those three walk off."

Blake and the general left. The soldiers aimed their rifles at Yang, Ruby, and Qrow, though they did not look too happy about this. _Great plan there, General,_ Yang thought. _If we really wanted to leave, they'd just get killed trying to stop us._

An awkward silence stretched out, eventually interrupted by Qrow. "So, Ruby," their uncle said, "how's Crescent Rose doing?"

 _Yeah, that would normally be the way to get Ruby talking, wouldn't it?_ Instead, Ruby looked down and bit her lip. Yang decided to rescue the situation. "Well, have you seen that crater outside?"

"It's a rather striking feature of the landscape, yes," Qrow agreed, plainly confused.

"That was Ruby. She made a whole bunch of Dust go boom. But she made the scythe go boom too."

"Damn." Qrow looked at his younger niece in admiration. "I don't think I've seen an explosion that big since the time we got Summer drunk on a search and destroy mission."

Ruby tilted her head, curious. "Mom did what?"

"Well—"

Qrow was interrupted by Blake and Ironwood's return. Both looked disgruntled, the general especially so.

"We found the picket, but he was dead when we got there," Ironwood explained. "He was taken down by a blow to the head, yes. When he was already down, someone slit his throat."

"Unless you suspect my nieces and their teammate of being cold-blooded killers," Qrow said acerbically, "this suggests that the smugglers' ringleader was here. And that he is willing to kill his own men to avoid giving us any leads."

The general sighed and nodded. "At the moment, the evidence against you does prove… lacking." He turned to the soldiers. "Head back to New Hope; there's nothing more to be done here. Blue Squad, search the perimeter of Haigha's Hill for tracks."

The soldiers, apparently relieved at the new orders, saluted and left. Before following, Ironwood looked back at Qrow. "I don't like you being here, but I don't see a good way to get rid of you. Please don't blow up New Hope when you leave."

* * *

"That definitely went well," Ruby summarized. "What's next?"

"Well, I was thinking," Qrow said. "I know it's been over a month since you lost Crescent Rose. But since I just got here now, how about we go send her off in true family tradition?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "You _would_ take your nieces drinking the moment you arrived in New Hope, wouldn't you?"

"No! Well, I mean, yes, I would. But that's not what this is about!"

"Remember, Blake, we're a family of Huntsmen and Huntresses," Yang explained. "Family tradition says: when the going gets grim—"

"Time to slaughter some Grimm," Ruby and Qrow chorused along with Yang.

Blake sighed. "Of course, what was I thinking. Well, I'm heading back to New Hope."

Yang turned to Ruby and Qrow apologetically. "I think I'd better sit this one out, too: can't let my partner mope by herself. Besides, the two of you have got the whole bladed weapon thing going."

Blake and Yang said their goodbyes and left. Qrow turned to Ruby. "You're the one that knows the area. Where to?"

Ruby thought it over for a few moments. "After yesterday's Grimm attack, this area is pretty much clear. Further south, there's plenty of Grimm nests in the hills, but we mostly keep those under control. We haven't seen much activity around the big mountain north of us, but it's worth checking up on."

"As long as you're not leading us on a nice scenic walk with nothing bigger than a baby Nevermore to swing at."

"This is Lotan, uncle. I don't think I could keep us away from Grimm if I tried."

Ruby and Qrow left the outpost, taking an overgrown trail north. The first few minutes of the walk passed in silence.

"So," Ruby finally said, "what brings you to New Hope? You never did visit when we were stationed in Atlas."

Qrow looked away. "Back then, I was avoiding dealing with James, I guess. Not one of my best decisions, I admit. But then I saw you on TV, and wanted to check in on you and Yang."

"Oh yeah?" Ruby gave him a look of mock indignation. "What, you don't think we can handle ourselves?"

"Well…" Qrow dragged out the word. "Okay, I suppose you've picked up a trick or two since you were academy students. All the same, frontier towns are different. I'm not sure anyone these days realizes how much; there hasn't been a new settlement in decades."

"Really?" asked Ruby in surprise. "It hasn't felt too different so far."

"The big difference is the people. Someone that's moved out to New Hope isn't doing it because they had it good back home. So you've got a population with high hopes that things will get better—but also a fear they won't."

Ruby thought this over. "I get that this affects the Grimm. But what's the bottom line?"

"Bottom line is that you'll be fine as long as your defense is perfect. But the townspeople have less faith you'll protect them. If the defense is ever breached, it starts a feedback loop. Most frontier towns go down to a single Grimm attack that just never stops."

Ruby winced. "That's a bright forecast."

"There's other things I was worried about, but they're more political. Maybe I'll ask Jimmy about them sometime." Qrow paused. "In the meantime, you promised Grimm?"

"We're bound to see some when we get to those trees up ahead." Ruby took out her axe and spun it around in one hand. "You've never fought Needlemaws before, have you? They're local. Watch out for the teeth."

* * *

When Weiss next woke up, the sun was close to setting. None of her teammates were around, but she didn't feel like going back to sleep. Her energy was fully recovered, which meant that her injuries had also healed.

With practiced motions, she systematically removed the nutrient drip and the excessive variety of monitoring equipment that had been attached to her while she slept. This probably caused all sorts of alarms to go off on some doctor's scroll, but Weiss didn't really care and definitely didn't want to wait around for someone to come by and officially release her. Fortunately, someone (probably Ruby) had left a change of clothes for her next to the bed.

Weiss breathed a little sigh of relief when she left the hospital room. Having been in bed for over twenty-four hours, she felt restless. After checking to make sure nobody was watching, she placed glyphs along the hallway and skated along it until she reached the lobby.

Weiss's metaphorical momentum ran out together with the literal; as she exited the hospital, she paused, not knowing what to do. If none of her teammates were waiting for her, that probably meant they'd found some trouble to get into. Weiss didn't know where to find them or when they'd be back. The other option was heading back to her office, but she hated the job and the late hour gave her an excuse to wait until the next day.

"Hey, Weiss. Feeling better, are you?"

"Gah!" Weiss spun around to find Ruby standing next to the door to the hospital, next to the wall. "Where'd you come from?"

"I was looking for you, actually." Ruby smiled. "I've got a mission for us."

"A mission?" Weiss frowned at the odd phrasing. Team RWBY rarely took formal mission assignments in New Hope, sticking to doing miscellaneous tasks that kept the town running and safe. "What kind of mission?"

" _Well_ , Ironwood's back in town, and he's got something for us." Ruby rolled her eyes. "It's a big Dust delivery off-continent, he says."

Weiss pursed her lips. "And, of course, he couldn't have gone through official channels and told me in advance? Knowing these things is literally in the description of the job _he_ gave me." _Just when Slate's finally warmed up to us a bit, Ironwood is back to give us more of the same runaround._

"I know, right? What a tool." Ruby pushed off from the wall and took out her scroll. "Anyway, I've got the mission details right here, let me transfer them to your scroll."

Weiss pulled out her own scroll and accepted the transfer. "You want me to lead this one?"

"We'll see. In any case, I've got a few errands to run first. Why don't you call Blake and Yang and I'll meet you at the airship?"

Weiss shrugged. "If you say so."

"See you in a bit, Weiss!" Ruby waved at her and disappeared around the corner of the building.

Checking the details of the mission, Weiss learned that they were scheduled to depart from a landing pad all the way across town. She sent Blake and Yang messages to meet her there, and then began her own walk over.

The conversation with Ruby had unsettled Weiss. She didn't appreciate being jerked around, which described her entire stay in New Hope to an extent. This mission, though, seemed like Ironwood had thought it up just to make some sort of point. If she was supposed to be in charge of the Huntsmen defending New Hope, why send her off on a routine Dust delivery?

Eventually, she arrived at the landing pad. A Salamander-class aircraft was stationed there, with claw-like joints already hooked around a large crate of Dust. These jets were a new model, designed for cross-continent cargo transport.

Yang and Blake were already waiting for her outside the cargo jet. "Good to have you back, Weiss," Yang spoke up. "The clumsy, sleepy, only barely sarcastic ice princess you were this morning really wasn't an acceptable substitute."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at Yang. "If you say so. Personally, I suspect a neutral party would judge me to be more articulate than you even while unconscious."

Yang grinned. "Blake, what do you say?"

"Don't look at me," the Faunus shook her head. "I'm staying out of this one."

Weiss expected Yang to try to get in another word, but just then, Ruby showed up. "Everyone ready to go?" she asked.

Weiss nodded. "Ready when you are."

Ruby smiled back at her, then winced and lifted a hand to her head. "Actually, Weiss, can you take point on this one? I think I need a bit of a lie-down in the back of the jet."

Weiss frowned, but led the way onto the aircraft. "No problem. Are you feeling okay?"

Entering the jet, Ruby collapsed onto a bench to the side of the door. "I'll be fine when we land. Just have a bit of a headache."


	14. How to Beat the Odds

**How to Beat the Odds**

Blake sat down in the pilot seat of the Salamander and began inspecting the controls. Most of them were identical to a Bullhead's in design, which made sense; the jet was not too different from the older models, and the project had been rushed besides. To Blake's puzzlement, however, the activation panel refused to react to her, with no visible response.

"You'll want the launch code," Weiss said, holding out her scroll. "Apparently this jet is actually the general's personal model, the very first one manufactured. He usually flies it himself; other pilots need these one-time use codes."

Taking Weiss's scroll, Blake punched in the long string of digits and watched the controls light up. "So if this is Ironwood's jet, has he given it a name?"

"Oh, probably Maximus or Celeritas or something else from the classics," Weiss said. "Not part of the mission briefing, though."

While Blake was looking over the mission details, Yang sprawled in the largely-decorative copilot seat and turned her head to face Blake and Weiss. "I've just got one question," she said. "Here we are, New Hope's best and brightest, on board of a cutting-edge jet the general had to come to Lotan himself to deliver. Why are we being sent on what is literally a milk run?"

 _You mean figuratively, not literally_ , Blake didn't say, because Yang was almost certainly deliberately baiting her. "Because we're flying to Vacuo," she responded, instead, handing Weiss's scroll back to its owner.

"More precisely, because we're going to be passing by the Iron Mountain," Weiss clarified. "We'll need to avoid the Bhramari, though this jet might be able to outfly them."

"This jet can outfly anything," Blake commented, leaning back from the controls. "By the way, have you two noticed we're several hundred feet in the air?"

"Gah!" Yang flailed. "Don't scare me like that!" She dashed to a porthole. "…Wait, you weren't kidding, were you."

Blake smirked. "For a rush project, this sure is an upgrade. Smoother and faster flying than anything. Probably won't take us more than two hours to get to Vacuo."

"That soon?" Weiss asked. "I'd better get started, then." Without a word of further explanation, Weiss knelt on the floor of the cockpit and closed her eyes.

Blake left Weiss's actions without comment and continued flying. As expected, though, it took Yang only five minutes—five minutes spent staring at Weiss with undisguised curiosity—before she cracked. Yang leaned over and whispered to Blake, "What's she _doing_?"

Blake did not bother to lower her voice. "The intricacies of Schnee meditation techniques will no doubt remain a mystery to us all," she said dryly. "But the fundamental principle is straightforward to explain. Have you… ever felt like you're being watched?"

"Yes, yes, that's kindergarten stuff," Yang said impatiently. "Wait, you mean—"

"With intense concentration," Blake explained, "one can focus the danger sense provided by Aura, greatly extending its range. I'm rather grateful Weiss is doing it, actually. I'm told that when I try, I scrunch up my face and look like I'm constipated."

"That's the Schnee grace for you, I suppose," Yang said dubiously. "Why didn't I know about this sort of thing? And should we try to be quieter to avoid disturbing Weiss?"

"At a guess, the teachers were worried you'd just start setting things on fire," Blake suggested half-jokingly. "As for Weiss, well, I've never heard of anyone that's been trained in the technique getting distracted by mere conversation before."

Yang breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Of course," Blake continued with a hint of a smile, "I don't think that Aura researchers have met you before, either. And if Weiss slips, we could be up to our necks in giant bees before we know it. So. Your call."

The trip continued in silence.

* * *

Ruby gave Lava Teign a wide swing, burying the blade in the trunk of an ancient tree. With a single graceful leap, she perched on its handle, escaping the black smoke that enveloped the ground: the remnants of dead and dying Grimm.

"So," Ruby asked her uncle, "what do you think?" She patted Lava Teign's handle. "I'll still want to forge my own when I have the time, of course, but… I kind of like this one."

Qrow lifted a hand, pushing back his hair thoughtfully. "It's certainly flashy, I'll give you that. Reminds me a bit of the Dust blades for Raven's sword, actually. Even she didn't use up Dust _quite_ so aggressively, however."

Ruby grinned. "That's what makes it the perfect weapon! Think about it: we're sitting on a continent that's practically made of Dust. I mean, I literally have the right to requisition any amount of Dust crystals I ask for! If it kills the Grimm faster, it's all worth it."

Qrow pointed an accusatory finger at Ruby. "You talk big, little woman. But I can't help but notice that I was responsible for the majority of the kills on our outing."

"Oh come on, you beat me by _one_ lizard—"

"Still a majority."

"Just a fluke." Ruby crossed her arms.

"Prove it," Qrow responded, copying her.

"Fine! Let's find another group of Grimm."

Qrow produced a pair of binoculars from the folds of his cloak and tossed them to Ruby. "You're halfway up that tree already; climb to the top and have a look around. I, as the reigning champion, will do my part by staying on the ground and taking a well-earned break."

"Sure thing." Ruby stood up, balancing on Lava Teign's handle, and jumped up to grab onto a branch. "You need plenty of rest in your advanced age." With that parting shot, she pulled herself up and quickly disappeared into the tree's canopy.

When Ruby reached the top of the tree, she was greeted by the last rays of the setting sun. In New Hope, surrounded as it was by hills, it would already be dark. Ruby quickly pulled out Qrow's binoculars and started scanning the surroundings for Grimm, while there was still light enough to see by.

She spotted some movement on the slope of the mountain to their north. That was a few miles further than she'd wanted to go, but it would do. She adjusted the binoculars to zoom in on the area. It took her a moment to locate the Grimm. _Those look too big to be Needlemaws. Good, it's about time for some variety. Wait, are those—?_

Smiling to herself, Ruby pulled out her scroll and called Qrow; she didn't want to disturb the forest by shouting. "You'll never guess what I just saw. You know, this reminds me of Team RWBY's very first official mission, back when we were still in training at Beacon."

"What, the one that ended with you bringing a horde of Grimm in through an underground tunnel?" Qrow's mock alarm was clearly audible through the call. "I'm almost scared to ask what could possibly remind you of that. What did you see?"

Ruby laughed softly. "No, this was at the beginning of the mission; Professor Oobleck was showing us the ropes. It was my first time seeing a Goliath. I thought they looked so… majestic."

There was a pause. "Stay right there." Qrow's voice suddenly lost its playful, mocking edge. Ruby heard the sound of leaves rustling and branches snapping from below; a disturbingly short amount of time later, her uncle joined her on the top of the tree. "Where?" he asked. Not pausing to wait for an answer, he pulled the binoculars from Ruby's hands.

"West slope of the mountain. Uncle Qrow… what's the big deal? They're just Goliaths; they're not going to attack us?"

Qrow did not reply at first, focusing his attention on the Grimm. "Why do you say that?" he asked eventually, in a tone that was not at all curious.

"Well, they've lived for hundreds of years, like Oobleck said. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they…" Ruby trailed off. "Hold on."

Ruby's uncle lowered his binoculars and turned to look at Ruby. "You're used to seeing Goliaths on one of the inhabited continents. The ones here are every bit as old, and as vicious. But they've probably never encountered humans before, and if they have… we haven't made a particularly good showing."

"So you think they'll attack the town?"

"That's most likely why they're here." Qrow put away the binoculars. "Ruby, you must go back to New Hope as quickly as you can. Warn them that the Goliaths are coming. I'll go to take a closer look at the herd; I'd only slow you down, anyway. Hopefully I'll return a few hours after you to give a more detailed report." He stopped. "Now go!"

Ruby's night-time run through the forest and over the hills was every bit as intense as her earlier practice dashes through New Hope. She refused to relax her Semblance even for a moment, and avoided tripping over a rock or running into a tree mostly through blind luck. When she spotted the town walls ahead of her, she pushed herself on to a final burst of speed.

Luck must have remained with her, because she saw Ironwood and Slate both standing just past the town gates, almost as if they had been waiting for her. "General Ironwood!" she called out.

The general turned to look at Ruby—

* * *

An hour into the trip, when they were still flying over the ocean, Yang became aware of a soft humming sound from outside the jet. When she dashed to look outside, causing Blake to frown at the disturbance, she saw nothing. Yang remained tense for the rest of the flight, but no further threats emerged. A few times, Weiss called out a direction, without opening her eyes; in response, Blake adjusted their course sharply. The buzzing intensified when they reached the continent. Blake continued piloting, seemingly unconcerned; when the black forests surrounding the Iron Mountain gave way to desert, the sound faded out again.

A bit later, Weiss stood up, brushed off the hem of her skirt, and took a seat on the side of the cockpit. "As far as I can tell, we're clear. Is Vacuo far?"

Blake pointed. "Those lights in the distance should be Vacuo. I hope you have more specific directions to give me than that?"

"Hold on, I'll pull up the coordinates." Weiss fiddled with her scroll for a minute, then rattled off a string of numbers to Blake. "We're looking for an empty lot outside a warehouse."

"Not even a landing pad?" Yang asked. "That's pretty cheap of them. Who are we delivering to, anyway? Government, military, private corporation?"

Weiss frowned. "The mission briefing doesn't say. All I've got is 'personnel will be on hand to unload your cargo.' Not very helpful."

"I guess we'll find out when we get there," Yang said. "Blake, how much longer will the flight be?"

"Just a few minutes longer. If you want to know when we land, you should look out the window." Blake smiled smugly. "I'm pretty sure I can take us down softly enough you won't be able to tell, otherwise."

The landing was indeed every bit as smooth as the takeoff. As soon as they touched the ground, a crew of workers approached to unload the Dust. Several soldiers stood back with guns on hand to protect the cargo, but Yang couldn't identify the uniforms. _Mercenaries, maybe, or hired security guards?_

Weiss stood up and turned to leave the cockpit as soon as they landed. "Now that we're here, I'd like to—"

"—Check on Ruby," Yang agreed. "I hope she's feeling better. This really isn't like her."

"Maybe Qrow did take her drinking after all," Blake suggested.

They left the cockpit and entered the jet's small passenger cabin, but Ruby wasn't there.

"I don't like this," Yang declared. "Where could she have gone?"

"Maybe she went out ahead of us," Weiss suggested dubiously. She opened the door of the jet and stepped outside. Yang followed her out.

She heard a muffled cry behind her; already suspicious, Yang spun around, ready for attack. She saw Weiss, standing over an unconscious Blake, with an unpleasant smirk on her face. _Wait, what?_

Weiss dashed forward and punched Yang; her fist didn't quite make contact, but Yang felt a blow and stumbled back. She tripped down the steps leading up to the jet and fell to the ground.

Yang looked up to see Weiss standing over her with her back to the Salamander, and another Weiss standing at the top of the steps. She wasn't sure what was happening, but cried out a warning.

The Weiss outside the jet made a motion to draw Myrtenaster, which was when the soldiers opened fire. Weiss blocked the first few shots, but she was clearly outnumbered and overwhelmed. Yang pushed herself up to join the fight and felt a sharp pain in her gut. She looked down and saw blood. _When did that happen?_ She saw Weiss collapse to the ground.

The person inside the jet, who looked like Weiss but _did not move like Weiss_ , approached and tied Yang's hands with a spool of wire; Yang tried to resist, but felt weak. "Take them to the warehouse," the false Weiss called out in a voice that Yang felt like she should recognize. "There's something I want to show them."

Two of the soldiers approached to drag Yang along into the warehouse.

"Who the hell are you?" Yang called out. "Where's Ruby?"

"Who, me?" Ruby stepped out from behind Yang and turned to face her. "I'm right here, sis," she said in what would have been a fair imitation of Ruby's voice, if Yang hadn't been as inclined to be suspicious. Then her appearance changed; turning into a woman with brown skin and light green hair.

"You bitch," Yang growled. "You should be dead!" Yang's hair burst into flames, but the hands holding her didn't relax. "I saw your dead body!"

"Really? I thought you'd be quicker to catch on." Emerald smiled unpleasantly. "You saw… what I wanted you to see."

Yang wanted to scream in anger, but didn't think it would help. "Where's Ruby?" she asked, instead.

"Your little sister is back on Lotan," Emerald replied, her eyes flashing, "getting everything she deserves." She gestured to one of the soldiers, and a large screen lit up on one of the walls of the warehouse. "I would have enjoyed seeing this for myself, but all in all, Vacuo seemed like a nicer place to be. I had a friend record this for me, so I that wouldn't miss a thing."

"What the hell did you do to her?"

"Let's take a look!" Emerald put on a tone of fake excitement. "I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I do." She pulled out her scroll and pressed a button, using it as a remote; a video began playing.

* * *

The general turned to look at Ruby. She was taken aback by the cold fury in the man's face.

"Huntress Ruby Rose," General Ironwood said, every word with the force of a physical blow behind it, "for the crimes of grand theft and conspiring against the government of Atlas, you are under arrest."

Johannes Slate personally stepped up to clap a pair of manacles on Ruby's hands.


	15. Interlude: How to Get Even

**Interlude: How to Get Even**

Emerald met the strangely-dressed woman's amber eyes, refusing to flinch. "Who are you?" _Why were you watching me so closely?_

The woman kept smiling in a way that Emerald found unnerving. "My name is Cinder. I find myself in need of someone with skills such as yours. If you work for me, I will make it worth your while."

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like I have a choice." _What's the catch?_

"If I compelled you with all the threats you're no doubt thinking of, you'd be worthless to me. I don't need a frightened street rat. Follow me, and you'll never be hungry again. I will make you strong. Feared. Powerful."

Emerald gave Cinder the most skeptical look she could conjure up. _Yeah, and that ring in my pocket is the Grimm Queen's wedding band._

Cinder sighed. "Follow me. Or not." She turned to leave the alley.

After a moment's thought, Emerald went after her. The woman already knew enough to make Emerald's life difficult if she gave the police her description. Emerald couldn't guess what Cinder's game was, but she'd play along for now.

Emerald did, however, let Cinder think she was walking quite a bit closer to her than she really was. No need to make Cinder's inevitable betrayal _easy_.

* * *

Emerald crossed her arms and gave Cinder a flat look. "What the hell is this?" she asked, gesturing at the desk in front of them.

"You need to know quite a bit more than you do before you can be effective. Acting. Weapons training. Physics."

"From _books_?"

"You will have tutors once I have learned where your greatest deficiencies lie."

Emerald approached the desk and picked up a book at random. Glancing at the title, she stiffened and threw it across the room. "You're crazy. I can _make you see what I want you to see_. Why do I need to learn about makeup?"

She barely saw Cinder's hand move before the woman struck her across the face, hard. It took a few seconds before Emerald's Aura healing kicked in. She hissed in pain.

"I am not your equal, child," Cinder said. "You will address me with respect. Above all, you will _obey_."

Emerald decided that 'meek and subservient' was the order of the day. "Yes, ma'am."

"If you study diligently, you may join me for a meal in a few hours." Cinder turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "You will be glad of makeup lessons when you have to deceive a group of people larger than your Semblance can handle. Trust that when I give you orders, they will at least not be pointless." With that, she left.

Emerald lifted a hand to her face, but the physical blow was not what truly bothered her. How long had Cinder been watching her, if she could confidently identify the weakness of her ability?

 _Still think you can get away whenever you want to?_

She shook her head, dismissing the worry. If Cinder decided to teach her, she would _learn_. And in the end… the woman herself was just one mind to trick, wasn't she?

* * *

The tutors came and went; Cinder appeared to have an unlimited supply of Lien, which she spent with a casualness that boggled Emerald's mind. Cinder made a point of always being the one to teach Emerald how to use her Semblance, which she claimed to be unprecedented. Emerald wasn't sure how to describe the way those words made her feel.

Cinder was harsh and quick to rebuke Emerald for any display of laziness, incompetence, or insubordination. However, the woman also made time to have a daily meal in private with Emerald, during which she displayed something approaching kindness. Emerald didn't think she valued those meals until they were invaded by an obnoxious jerk who didn't know when to shut up.

Emerald stood up from the table, letting Mercury think she remained in place. Before she met Cinder, she would have sat down to eat, invisibly, as far away from the gray-haired boy as possible. Instead, she took the place to his right. _The easier to stab him in the back_ , she thought, though she had no intention of doing so. The option made putting up with Mercury's wit more bearable.

Cinder smiled tolerantly, and did not give her position away, though Emerald did not touch her mind at all. Mercury continued talking with the chair to his left for the entire meal.

When Mercury finished eating, he leaned over to Emerald's real position. "I can hear your heartbeat, you know," he whispered directly into her ear.

Emerald froze. "One day," she replied, "I will see you dead."

"Ooh! Will you… pickpocket me to death?" Mercury laughed. "What can a lowly assassin such as myself possibly do to defend against the terrifying jewel thief?"

Emerald groaned.

* * *

Emerald crawled across the bloodied floor of the White Fang hideout where she and Mercury had made their last stand. Her head felt like it was about to split open due to the backlash from her Semblance. She'd never tried to fool _four_ minds at once, and her only hope was that Team RWBY would hurry up and leave before they drove her into a coma.

They didn't seem like they were in a hurry, though. The bimbo, Yang, even walked up to the spot where Emerald had fallen, and kicked what she thought was her body. At any other time, making the image move realistically would have been child's play to Emerald. She only hoped that the dim lighting would cover up her inevitable mistakes. Fortunately, a single kick was enough to satisfy the one-armed Huntress.

Bright spots danced in front of Emerald's eyes. She continued crawling across the room, relying only on her sense of touch. At last, she collapsed behind an empty crate of Dust, and could relax fractionally: the more difficult part of the illusion, which kept her true location hidden, could be released.

The moments dragged on, each second sending another spike of pain through Emerald's head. After an eternity, the Huntresses left. Emerald passed out almost before the door closed behind them.

She awoke a few hours later and stood up immediately, absently wiping the blood from her nose; there was a lot of work to do. She had no way to hide the absence of her dead body, so she needed a workaround. The hideout could be rigged to explode on a timer; that was plausible enough as a dead man's switch. In fact, it was one of their exit strategies, and the explosives were already in place.

The timer set, Emerald gave the room one last look. Her eyes stopped on Mercury's dead body. His face was bloody and disfigured, and seemed to grin at her. She tried to think of the quip he'd say if he could, and came up blank.

"I will make them pay for this," she promised.


	16. How to Make a Stand

**How to Make a Stand**

 _It was a long time ago, when the stars still shone in the sky at night. The creatures of Grimm had driven mankind to all four corners of the world. And so it came to pass that Red Rose, the last Huntress, went to her mother to ask her where shelter from the Grimm may be found._

 _Red Rose's mother gave her a jeweled casket that glittered with all the colors of the rainbow. "Take this casket to Lotan," she said, "and with its contents you may buy yourself refuge there." So Red Rose gathered her three sisters, and together they set off to Lotan._

* * *

"Huntress Ruby Rose," General Ironwood paused, savoring the moment, "for the crimes of grand theft and conspiring against the government of Atlas, you are under arrest."

More likely than not, she was innocent, of course. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to pull off the Dust theft, coordinating a criminal operation across three continents, and the girl just didn't have the connections to do that. More likely than not, too, when James got to the bottom of the matter, he'd find Rose and her little friends already caught up neck-deep in it.

That was what frustrated the general most of all. Team RWBY couldn't be trusted to follow through on any assignment short of saving the world. They'd inevitably go haring off on their own with no regards to orders or protocol. It stank of Ozpin's teaching style: the old man liked to encourage that sort of thing in his favorite teams. Oz had never understood that you don't save the world by being a lone Beowolf. It took decades of careful planning, and taking calculated risks, and _having subordinates that weren't destined to end up prime suspects in the largest Dust heist in the history of Remnant_.

Interrupting James's thoughts, the girl stopped stuttering and finally managed to get a few words out. "General Ironwood, sir…" she said, gritting her teeth, "whoever stole whoever's grand, that is not your biggest problem right now! There is a herd of Goliaths an hour's travel north of New Hope and you need to mobilize _now_ if you want us all to live!" The Huntress's voice turned hesitant. "Clause nine it? Or something."

"Clause five," the general corrected irritably. The Huntsman's Code was a short document that didn't _have_ nine clauses: you didn't exactly dictate conditions to people that can probably set you on fire with an effort of will. So the last resolution that the world's defenders could agree to was simply this: the Grimm are scarier than we are. If we can't trust each other about them when it counts, we all die. Let's make it so that we can do that.

The general sighed. Clause five or not, he couldn't deal with this emergency while Rose was making her "determined" face at him and _being right about it_. "Take away her weapons," he ordered, "and then take her down to lockup in Sector One." The lieutenant whose name he couldn't be bothered to remember rushed to obey. Rose did not resist, but did continue glaring at James all the while.

Only once she was out of earshot did the general give his next order. "Sound a Grimm alarm. Load the Dust turrets on the northern wall. And get eyes in the air—once I get to headquarters, I want video feeds of every square inch of this settlement at my fingertips."

Clause five let the general dismiss, lock up, or even summarily execute the wayward Huntress. What it didn't let him do was dismiss the threat that she was warning him about. Even in disciplined Atlas, no Huntsman would follow Ironwood if he ignored the Code.

James mentally went over his limited options for the entire duration of the short walk back to headquarters. Once in his office, he brought up video from both of the northern watchtowers, and started pacing nervously. A dozen contingencies would be tested today. Would they be enough?

Implausibly, the general felt almost relieved once the first of the giant Grimm stepped into view of the camera. The worst was here, and he was the one who would have to face it, and that was where Ironwood felt like he belonged. Two Goliaths, three, four… the worst attack any of the kingdoms had faced in living memory had been from a herd of fifteen. James counted twenty-four.

"This will be a wall breach," he said. "Gather the civilians from the military families in the fortified mansion: the one with the movie theater. Station an evacuation airship outside; don't bother fueling it. For the other townspeople, order them into the southwest bunker. Wait, no—have the robots do it. The older models; we've still got a few dozen in storage at the training grounds."

The theory of Grimm warfare differed from ordinary strategy. The enemy would never falter or break until the battle was decided. But the Grimm were mindless, and so they could be manipulated. Keep the people calm, and they would remain invisible to the Grimm; make them panic, and you'd set a beacon to draw the monsters in.

"Station the three teams of Huntsmen at the northern gates," James continued. This was not a departure from ordinary procedure—except that James expected the walls to be breached. In all likelihood, not a single one of them would survive. A tough call, but when the future of Atlas was at stake, their lives were expendable.

"Finally, start demolishing buildings in the northwest quadrant to form barricades. I'm heading there and bringing the heavy guns with me, but they'll take time to set up."

The general was placing himself in the projected path of the Goliaths: where the fighting would be heaviest. He'd faced bad odds before, and gave himself an even chance of making it through this battle, too. If not… well, when the future of Atlas was at stake, his life was expendable, too.

* * *

Humming under her breath, Cammise Roth made ever smaller adjustments to the catapults, periodically consulting her scroll for computations. "Don't screw this up, Cammie," her team leader warned. "Commander Rose will be severely upset if we land outside the wall a second time."

"Don't worry about it, Kat," Cammise advised. "Ruby's a big softie, the worst she'll do is send us in first against the Grimm." She completed the last adjustment and stood up triumphantly. "Besides, I _never_ screw up."

One of the twins—Cammise could rarely tell Billie and Leslie apart—snorted audibly at that. The other had the good grace to merely conceal a smile.

"Alright, team," Katerina said, as they all took their places, "remember what we've trained for. Our job as protectors of this town is very important, and—Cammieeeeeeee!"

Cammise giggled as she flew through the air. She had a policy of never letting Katerina finish one of her longwinded speeches, but this was a personal best: launching them all out of catapults in the middle of the second sentence.

Flying over New Hope at night was every bit as glorious as it had been the first time. The town below her looked like a glittering jewel, lit up in patterns that outline the streets and houses. She could make out tiny figures of soldiers in white helmets ferrying townspeople to safety. This one wouldn't be a drill, then.

Rather selfishly, Cammise had done the calculations to give herself more of an arc than her teammates, so that she'd have a few more seconds of time in the air. Katerina arrived first, landing on the ground as though after a short jump. To her left and right, Billie and Leslie fired off their rifles to slow down before landing. It looked like Cammise had done well: all three of her teammates landed on the top of the wall, with a healthy margin of error.

Cammise's trajectory, on the other hand, was taking her well over the wall. Oh well: three for four wasn't bad, either. She looked over at where her teammates were standing, fixed the image in her mind, focused herself, and _twisted_ —

—And found herself standing on the wall. Katerina looked at her disapprovingly. "You should be saving your energy for the fight," she said, her Mistral accent coming out more heavily, "not using it frivolously so that you can fly a bit higher."

Cammise rubbed the back of her neck in slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I—hey, look over there!" She pointed to the edge of the forest outside the wall, all thoughts of her slip-up forgotten.

The Grimm creatures coming out from the cover of the trees were no Needlemaws. Tall and menacing, they walked on four thick legs, with tusks thicker than tree trunks emerging from bony white masks. Beside her, one of the twins breathed out in amazement. "A Goliath!"

A tree crashed to the ground, giving way under the weight of a Goliath's foot. The sound spurred the turrets on the wall into action. Twin streams of fire lit up the night and slammed into the monster's thick hide. It wobbled, but remained standing, and continued approaching the town at an unhurried pace.

Cammise turned to her teammates. "Can you believe it? I don't think I've seen an expenditure of Dust like this one before! They're practically bathing the Grimm in it—I guess that in this town, we can afford it—"

The Goliath's hide burst into flames, to which the monster finally reacted: it dropped to the ground and started thrashing around, trying to put out the fire. Its head beat against the ground more and more violently. A cheer went up from the wall.

Then the mask of a second Goliath emerged from the darkness, lit up by the flickering flames. The Grimm lowered its head, touching the body of the first. _Is it… trying to help its friend?_ Cammise thought. Suddenly, the Goliath lifted its head—and, in a seeming violation of physics, sent the burning body of the first monster flying at the wall.

For a long moment, Cammise stood frozen, while her mind tried to process the huge mass heading straight at her. Then she focused herself. Grabbing the hand of one of the twins, she teleported sideways.

A loud crash was heard from their former location. Cammise's teammate turned to her. "Leslie… Kat… do you think they're…"

"They'll be fine," Cammise lied. "But we have to keep moving. Do our job, right?" Then, trying not to think about what just happened, she teleported again, aiming her crossbow-rifle at the Grimm and firing, like she should have been from the beginning.

 _Don't ever stop moving_ , she imagined Ruby saying, as the senior Huntress often had over the past month. _Any second you're in the same place is a second the Grimm can use to kill you._ Cammise fired a bolt of red glowing energy, then teleported again to a better vantage point. _And don't ever stop firing. Any second you're not hurting the Grimm is a second wasted on the battlefield._

The turrets focused fire on the second Grimm, but sputtered out after a few seconds: there just wasn't enough Dust available in processed form to keep them going. _Don't stop firing._ Cammise fired another bolt at the Goliath, watching it sizzle as it struck the beast's hide. The Goliath roared in pain and retaliated, kicking a fallen tree trunk to send it flying through the air where Cammise—was no longer standing. _Don't stop moving._

More Goliaths emerged from the forest, enough of them that Cammise couldn't keep track of all of them. She focused on the one in the lead, which was about to pass through the breach in the wall. Aiming for its eye—possibly vulnerable?—she felt the segment of wall where she stood start crumbling beneath her. Cammise fired twice and teleported away. _Don't stop moving. Don't stop firing._

The second Goliath finally collapsed under concentrated fire, but by that time, others had reached the wall. More than once, Cammise had to teleport away from a tusk about to impale her. She had to remind herself to keep reloading her weapon and trying to hurt the Goliaths. _Don't stop firing._

 _Don't stop—_

* * *

Not for the first time in his life, Qrow Branwen was watching the world burn.

The defense of New Hope had been impressively well thought-out: the walls alone, manned by rookie Huntsmen fresh out of Atlas Academy, had stopped six Goliaths before falling. Qrow grudgingly had to admit that maybe Ironwood was teaching them _something_ well. Once that stage of the defenses had become irrelevant, the Goliaths ended up trapped in a battlefield designed by the general: the barricades in the northeast were difficult even for the giant Grimm to navigate.

It wouldn't be enough. The Goliaths had to be taken down quickly, before their apparent success drew in other Grimm from the surrounding forests. Massed conventional fire wasn't going to do it, and the heavy hitters of New Hope's defenses—Team RWBY—were absent for mysterious reasons Qrow was only just beginning to piece together.

Qrow knew that James would keep trying. Long before the man was either general or headmaster, he'd earned the nickname "Ironhead" from his enemies. That nickname was forgotten when they learned that his stubbornness, backed by sufficient force, _worked_. James would never give up, not when something this big was on the line.

"Sorry, Jimmy." Qrow shook his head. "I can't help you. I came to New Hope for one reason and one reason only, and I'm not going to forget about it now."

The guard outside the military compound blinked cluelessly. "I'm sorry? My name isn't Jimmy, it's Roy—actually, could I see some identification, please?"

"Just talking to myself," Qrow said. "I'll be going now." He reached for the door into the building, but the guard stopped him.

"I really need to see your authorization to enter," he explained apologetically. "The compound's locked down."

Qrow sized him up. "Sorry, kid," he said, "but you really need to learn that there's a time for protocol, and when everyone's fighting for their lives isn't it." Still talking, he slugged the man, hard, on the side of the head. "Also, that in an emergency, people get dangerous," he finished, looking down at the unconscious body slumped at his feet.

The compound was mostly deserted. New Hope couldn't spare anyone that might be useful for defending the town, which probably explained the young idiot outside. Qrow was curious how the place managed to hold Ruby, but reality turned out to be more boring than he'd imagined: he found her sleeping in the infirmary, dosed with a knockout drug.

Qrow picked up his niece and slung her over his shoulder. Looking around, he spotted the axe she'd been using, propped up against the wall. Sighing, he took it with him as well; Ruby wouldn't forgive him if he didn't.

The military airport was sure to be locked up tight: more than a few of New Hope's defenders would flee if they saw a chance. Qrow was pretty confident that he could get in anyway, but there was no reason to get into an unnecessary fight. He had other resources.

A short walk took Qrow into the seedier part of town: still mostly untouched by the battle, though this wouldn't last. Passersby shied away from the grim-looking man with a girl over one shoulder and an axe in the other hand. Looking around, Qrow confidently approached a warehouse surrounded by yellow "under construction" signs. The side door was locked, but in Qrow's experience, few doors stayed that way when a heavy weapon was judiciously applied.

As he'd expected, the warehouse was seemly a superstructure built to conceal New Hope's most wanted contraband: a personal tiltjet. Two men were arguing loudly outside it, unaware of Qrow's approach. Qrow caught the end of their conversation: "…won't hold another crate! My jet isn't rated for that kind of weight!"

This seemed like a reasonable point to make, so Qrow stepped in and rapped the other man with the flat of his axe. "Change of plans," he informed the shocked pilot. "You're taking the two of us, instead."

The man struggled to find a response. Qrow sighed. "I can fly that thing myself, you know. Or you could come along. Which would you prefer?"

This prompted the desired actions at last. Lowering the axe, Qrow stepped into the jet, depositing Ruby in the copilot's chair. "Don't worry about me," he said in his best charming voice. "I'll stand."

As the jet took off, Qrow watched New Hope from a window. Part of him wondered if he should go back, make a final stand with James… maybe even turn the tide… abandon Ruby.

"Goodbye, Jimmy," he said.


	17. How to Turn the Tables

**How to Turn the Tables**

 _Before long, the creatures of Grimm had learned of Red Rose's quest. On bony hooves and bloody paws and blackened wings, they chased after Red Rose and her sisters._

 _"I will hold them off," said Yellow Rose, the eldest sister. Her eyes flashed red and she turned into a dragon, holding the creatures of Grimm at bay with her fire and her teeth and her ten sharp claws. The other three sisters fled._

* * *

"—won't even last a second. Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Please. You've had a dozen trained Huntsmen there for a month. The only thing that's going to be hurt is Jimmy Ironwood's pride. Oh yeah, and also," the speaker paused, "his wallet."

Slowly, Weiss opened her eyes. This was her second experience of waking up from being unconscious in as many days, and it felt much less pleasant than the first. A bruise on the back of her head was pulsing with pain. Trying not to make any sudden movements, Weiss took stock of her surroundings.

She found herself in a large, dimly lit room that seemed to be a cross between a warehouse and a garage; a few miscellaneous vehicles had been left behind in its otherwise empty corners. Two goons were holding Weiss up by her arms in a half-standing, slumped position. Their grips tightened as they noticed she was awake. Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss could see Blake and Yang, in similar predicaments.

At the moment, the room was being used as an improvised movie theater, which it was definitely not designed for: a huge picture was being projected to one of the walls. With an effort, Weiss focused her eyes to look at it. It was a photo of Ruby, still in Lotan, shackled and being led away by an Atlesian soldier. … _What?_

"Ah, the princess wakes up at last!" Weiss's eyes snapped to look at the speaker, stunned by the familiar sound of her voice. In front of the screen was a tanned woman with green hair and a round face that made her look like a sixteen-year-old girl.

"It's so great to finally have the chance to catch up with you!" Emerald continued. "I was just explaining to your friends how completely hopeless your outlook is from here."

 _In other words, Blake and Yang have been keeping you talking, because you have more pride than brains. Got it. My turn._ Weiss opened her mouth to speak, her voice coming out hoarse and raspy. "Sounds to me like you ran out of plan and don't know what to do from here."

"Oh, believe me," Emerald grinned, "I have options. On the one hand," she held up a palm, "I _have_ just pulled off the biggest heist in all of history. I could just retire, _or_ ," Emerald raised her other palm, "I could leave it here with you for Vacuo's police to find." She made a weighing gesture. "Riches or revenge… which one's more fun?"

"Oh, no, please," Weiss deadpanned, "don't leave us the Dust and call the cops on yourself and let us go. Truly, I don't know how we could cope with such a dastardly plot."

Emerald laughed. "You still don't get it, do you? Everything I've done—the break-in into Ironwood's office, the theft of both the Dust and his newest airship model—has your team's fingerprints all over it. When they catch you red-handed, well… I'd be surprised if they ask questions before they shoot the biggest traitors Atlas has known."

Privately, Weiss agreed, but it only took her half a second to come up with a plausible reply. "Who, me? The heiress to the largest Dust mining company in the kingdoms? Nobody's going to believe I'd turn my back on my career for this… pocket change."

Emerald snarled. "You're _done_ , princess." Crossing the room, she walked up to Weiss and slapped her, hard, across the face. "I think I'll personally make sure that when the cops get here, you die resisting capture."

 _Wow, that pushed some buttons._ "You're forgetting about one important thing." Weiss spat out blood, and looked up at Emerald.

"Oh, and what's that?"

" _You're_ all alone. _I_ have friends."

* * *

On cue, Yang's hair—whose fire had died down to a smoldering over the last few minutes—burst into flames brighter than the sun.

The soldiers holding her yelled in surprise and pain; their hands reflexively went up to cover their eyes. Yang pulled apart her wrists, breaking apart the burnt remains of the wire tying them together. Two short punches, and the two henchmen went down.

Yang laughed. "Hey, Em," she asked, "want to try a fair fight this time?"

The former pickpocket slowly turned to face Yang. "You?" Emerald sounded incredulous. "You think you can even hit me?"

In response, Yang charged. In less than a second, her metal fist landed straight between Emerald's eyes. Of course, Emerald was no longer there.

"Is that the best you can do? How predictable." Emerald's mocking voice came from somewhere on the other side of the warehouse. Yang couldn't help but feel frustrated by that voice, and she let that frustration fan her flames.

 _You're the predictable one._ Yang had fought many Huntsmen over the years, and they'd all tried to follow the same strategy: dodge, avoid getting in hard hits that would fuel the kinetic half of her Semblance, and then finish Yang off when she got tired. Emerald, too, was specialized for stealth; there was practically no other possible reaction.

At the moment, this suited Yang just fine. She charged again, not particularly in the direction of the voice, which had probably been thrown anyway. _What do you do against an opponent you can't see? Strike at the places you know she'll go._

Yang's fist swept out an arc that knocked down both of the soldiers holding Blake—and then made contact with something in the middle of the air. Emerald briefly reappeared as she stumbled back. Yang smirked. "Trying to use my teammate against me? How unsporting."

Emerald cursed. She threw one of her sickle weapons across the room, embedding it in the opposite wall, and using its chain to pull herself to the other side of the warehouse. Of course, that was probably cover for another dodge entirely; once again, she could be anywhere.

Flexing her arm, Yang armed the rocket launcher mounted on her wrist. "Weiss? Give me glyphs!" Without a word, her teammate activated her semblance, and a dozen white symbols appeared around the room in a seemingly random pattern. Yang fired at several of them, the rockets ricocheting across the room as they bounced off of the glyphs. _What do you do against an opponent you can't see? Strike at her everywhere._

Explosions shook the building. Emerald's remaining henchmen ran for the exit. Yang figured that at this point, Emerald would try to join them. Why stay and fight when she had a backup plan that didn't need her here at all? Letting Emerald go wasn't part of Yang's plan, though. Leaping across the room, she fired off a few shots at the door before landing in front of it.

With a mechanical grind, a section of the wall slowly began to lift. _Oh right—those vans in the back must have been able to drive in somehow. Well, it's too late now. Checkmate, Emerald._ "Blake! Cut the power!"

Yang's eyes were only barely quick enough to spot Gambol Shroud's sheath being thrown across the room before striking the electrical junction box. The garage door stopped lifting; the projector shut down; one by one, the lights went out.

Yang let the flames in her hair die entirely, leaving the room in total darkness. She smiled. _What do you do against an opponent you can't see? Even the odds._

* * *

Silence accompanied the darkness. All fighting had ceased, and nobody dared make a sound and betray their location. Crouched in a corner atop a large cabinet, Blake slowly surveyed the room.

Only a Faunus would be able to make anything out in the dark. Would Emerald know how to make herself invisible now, tricking Blake's mind into seeing something the criminal couldn't see herself? Probably not easily. Adam could have taught Emerald how, she supposed; the two had been working on the same side for years. Showing a Human how to trick Faunus senses, though—what a spit in the face of White Fang principles.

On the other side of the warehouse, Blake spotted a silhouette of shadow that didn't look quite right. In spite of herself, she felt slightly relieved. Okay, so Adam had still been a terrorist, murderer, and all-around psychopath, but he hadn't betrayed _everything_ they'd once believed in. Just mostly everything.

Blake shook her head. This was neither the time and the place to dwell. Slowly, she began to approach the place where Emerald stood, trying not to make a single sound as she did so.

Step by careful step, the false shadow approached the sliver of light coming from under the garage door. It would be a tight fit, but someone of Emerald's slight build could squeeze through. Blake followed carefully; if she gave away her position, she could lose the advantage her sight gave her. When Emerald was almost at the door, Blake finally pounced…

…And landed unexpectedly on the cold floor, passing straight through the false shadow. Before she could process what had happened, she felt the chain from one of Emerald's weapons wrap around her neck. Blake realized that she'd been played from the moment the lights went out. _Damn you, Adam!_

Blake's throat was too constricted to breathe or to call out for help. She rolled over to one side and tried to get a grip on Emerald. She wasn't giving up so easily! Blake kicked out blindly and was rewarded with a soft cry of pain.

The next few seconds felt chaotic and jumbled. Blake was finding it harder and harder to think straight, but her reflexes held steady, and aside from the chokehold Emerald still had on her, neither was able to gain the upper hand. Blake didn't have much time left, though; already, she was tapping into her Aura just to remain conscious.

Loud sirens interrupted the silent struggle. "This is the Vacuo Special Forces!" The unknown voice was clearly amplified by a loudspeaker. "Huntresses Schnee, Belladonna, Xiao Long: we have your hideout surrounded. Leave your weapons and come outside."

The sudden noise made Emerald flinch for a split second and loosen the chain around Blake's neck, which was all the opening Blake needed. Resisting the urge to gasp for air uselessly, she instead slipped a hand under the chain and pulled. Twisting around, she lifted Emerald's chin and pressed Gambol Shroud's blade against the throat. "Yang! Weiss! I've got her!" she called out.

"Yang! Weiss! Help me!" Emerald repeated. It really wasn't a very good imitation of Blake's voice.

Yang approached and lit a flare, casting a flickering light around them. "Weiss, come over here and help me look," she said. Blake realized that Emerald must be trying to copy her face. Could she maintain the illusion for Weiss and Yang both?

"Fine! I surrender," Emerald said in her own voice.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "I'm not exactly one to suggest violence as the first solution to all diplomatic problems," she said, "but I feel like this situation would be much more straightforward if we just killed her now."

Emerald seemed to regain some measure of calm. "Oh," she drawled, "and I suppose you've got a plan for how to get out of here after I'm dead?"

Yang sighed. "If you think you're still useful, go on and enlighten us about all the ways you can help before Blake's hand twitches."

Emerald swallowed. "The Salamander outside can outfly anything Vacuo's got. But it's the first of its model in production; it needs Ironwood's personal flight codes every time it takes off. And the only place you're getting those," she twitched like she considered lifting a finger to her temple, and then thought better of it, "is in my head."

"Doable," Yang judged. "What's to stop you from trying the same tricks on the way?"

In response, Blake lowered her blade and pushed Emerald forward. "No tricks," she warned her hoarsely. Twisting the back of Gambol Shroud's handle, she pulled out a small square piece of metal. "Hold out your hand," Blake said to Emerald, giving her a hard look.

Emerald did so. "What have you got in mind?" she asked, nervously.

Blake slashed a cut across Emerald's hand, then took the square chip and placed it in the cut. "Heal it," she ordered, ignoring the criminal's whimpers.

"Tracking device?" Weiss asked. Blake looked at the Schnee heiress's face and was relieved to find no trace of judgment, just determination.

Blake nodded. "The matching signal's in the sheath; I'll punch the code in your scrolls later. We'll all be able to identify her, now, and track her down if she gets away."

"This is your final warning!" they heard from the loudspeaker, again. "Come out within the next sixty seconds or we will bring the building down on your heads!"

Yang looked at each of her teammates in turn. "Looks like we have a plan to take off once we get to the airship," she summarized. "How do we get from here to there?"


End file.
